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CORNELL 

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LIBRARY 


BOUGHT  WITH  THE  INCOME 
OF  THE  SAGE  ENDOWMENT 
FUND     GIVEN     IN     1891     BY 

HENRY  WILLIAMS  SAGE 


CORNELL  UNIVERSITY  LIBRARY 


3   1924  092  215  460/ 


#1 


The  original  of  this  book  is  in 
the  Cornell  University  Library. 

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the  United  States  on  the  use  of  the  text. 


http://archive.org/details/cu31924092215460 


BIOGRAPHICAL  HISTORY 
OF    NORTH    CAROLINA 

OLD  NORTH  STATE"  EDITION 

THIS  EDITION  IS  STRICTLY 
LIMITED  TO  SEVEN  HUNDRED 
AND  FIFTY  REGISTERED  AND 
NUMBERED  SETS,  OF  WHICH 
THIS    IS    SET    NUMBER     


&i^i^;iioaaFEEni>^;^;ik;i 


"to  /C  /{Za^^-t^-^'^^^ 


of  Uortf)  ClaroUna 


From  Colonial  Times 
to  the  Present 


Editor-in-Chief 

Samuel   A.   Ashe 


VOLUME  IV 


Charles    L.  Van    Noppen 

PUBLISHER 

Greensboro,  N,  C. 

MCM  VI 


^ 


Copyright,    1906 
By   Charles  L.    Van   Noppen 


All  rights  reserved 


Kemp  P.  Battle    . 
John  C.  Buxton 
Theo.  F.  Davidson 
Junius  Davis 
RuFus  A.  Doughton 
Thomas  J.  Jarvis 
James  Y.  Joyner    . 
Charles  D.  McIver 
William  L.  Poteat 
James  H.  Southgate 
Charles  W.  Tillett 


Chapel  Hill 

Winston-Salem 

.    Asheville 

Wilmington 

Sparta 

Greenville 

Raleigh 

.     Greensboro 

Wake  Forest 

Durham 

.    Charlotte 


Advisory  Board 

Contents 

Portraits 

Contributors 

Raleigh,  Walter 

Dare,  Virginia 

Adam,  Robert 

Adams,  Spencer  Bell 

Anderson,  George  Burgwin 

Ashe,  John  Baptista 

Ashe,  John  .... 

Bailey,  John  L.     .      .      . 

Braswell,  James  Craig 

Bundy,  Jesse  Moore 

BuNN,  Benjamin  Hickman 

Burton,  Hutchins  Gordon 

Campbell,  Robert  Fishburne 

Cobb,  Henry  Wellington 

CoRBETT,  Michael  J. 

Cox,  Joseph  John 

Cox,  Jonathan  Elwood 

Craig,  David  Irvin 

Craven,  Braxton 


IX 

xi 

XV 

xvii 
I 
8 

19 
22 

28 

32 

36 

S3 

55 
59 
62 
68 

72 

78 
82 
86 
89 
96 
102 


CONTENTS 


Crawford,  Leonidas  Wakefield  112 

Creecy,   Richard  Benbury  ...  119 

Davidson,  William  Lee       .  ......  124 

doughton,  rufus  alexander  1 29 

Franklin,  Jesse  133 

Gregory,  Isaac .      .  ■      •  139 

Hadley,  Thomas  Jefferson 146 

Haid,  Leo .  .      .  153 

Harrington,  Henry  William        .  .      .  158 

Harvey,  John    ...  .  .  .  163 

Hill,  William  H 176 

Hill,  Joseph  Alston 181 

Hobbs,  Lewis  Lyndon .  184 

Hobgood,  Franklin  P .  189 

Hogun,  James  ........  196 

Howard,  George ....  203 

Hume,  Thomas .  213 

Hunter,  Theophilus 218 

Jack,  James .  221 

Johnson,  Andrew 228 

Johnston,  Samuel  .  .  241 

Jones,  Allen ....  252 

Jones,  Thomas  256 

Lawrence,  Thomas     .  262 

Leak,  Thomas  Crawford      ...  ....  270 

Leazar,  Augustus       .  ...  ....  275 

MacKay,  James  Iver .  .  284 

Macon,  Nathaniel  ...  .  .  .  291 

Martin,  Franqois-Xavier     ....  .  306 

McQueen,  Henry  C.  .  .  315 

Mendenhall,  Nereus       .  319 


CONTENTS  xiii 


Miller,  Robert  Johnstone 325 

Miller,  William        328 

MoTT,  John  James ....  331 

Murphey,  Archibald  De  Bow       .      .  ...  340 

Parker,  Walter  Scott 349 

Parks,  Hugh,   Sr .      .  355 

Peebles,  Robert  Bruce .      .  361 

Philips,  Frederick 366 

PoGUE,  Joseph  Ezekiel 370 

Robertson,  Lucy  H 375 

Saunders,  William  L 381 

Simpson,  John 390 

Spaight,  Richard  Dobbs,  Sr 397 

Spaight,  Richard  Dobbs,  Jr 403 

Speight,  Richard  Harrison 406 

Stephen.s,  John  Walter 411 

Stone,  David 422 

Tate.  Samuel  McDowell 430 

Tourgee,  Albion  Winegar 440 

Urmstone,   John 450 

Wakefield,  William  Haines 456 

Watson,  Cyrus  B 460 

White,  Matthew  H 469 

Willard,  Martin  Stevenson 473 

Womack,  Thomas  Brown 481 

Young,  Robert  Simonton 488 


Saunders,  William  L.         Frontispiece 

Adams,   Spencer  Bell          facing    22 

Braswell,  James  Craig "         55 

BuNDY,  Jesse  Moore "        59 

BuNN,  Benjamin  Hickman "        62 

Campbell,  Robert  Fishburne        "        72 

Cobb,  Henry  W "        78 

CoRBETT,  Michael  J "        82 

Cox,  Jonathan  Elwood "        89 

Craig,  David  Irvin         "        96 

Craven,  Braxton "      102 

Crawford,  Leonidas  Wakefield         ....  "       112 

Doughton,  Rufus  Alexander "       129 

Hadley,  Thomas  Jefferson "      146 

Haid,  Leo         "      i53 

Hobbs,  Lewis  Lyndon         "      184 

Hobgood,   Franklin  P "189 

Howard,  George         "      203 

Hume,  Thomas          "213 

Lawrence,  Thomas         "      262 

Leak,  Thomas  Crawford         "270 

Leazar,  Augustus "      275 


xvi  PORTRAITS 


McQueen,  Henry  C facing  315 

Mendenhall,   Nereus          "  319 

MoTT,  John  James          "  331 

MuRPHEY,   Archibald    De  Bow          ....  "  340 

Parker,  Walter   Scott "  349 

Parks,  Hugh,  Sr "  355 

Peebles,  Robert  Bruce "  361 

Philips,  Frederick          "  366 

Pogue,  Joseph  Ezekiel "  370 

Robertson,  Lucy  H "  375 

Speight,  Richard  Harrison "  406 

Tate,   Samuel   McDowell "  430 

Wakefield,  William   Haines "  456 

Watson,  Cyrus  B "  460 

White,  Matthew  H "  469 

Willard,  Martin  Stevenson         "  473 

Womack,    Thomas  Brown "  481 

Young,   Robert   Simonton "  488 


Samuel  A.  Ashe 
Robert  Bingham 
William  A.  Blair,  A.M.,  LL.D. 
G.  Samuel  Bradshaw,  A.M. 
Benjamin  H.  Bunn 
Baylus  Cade 

Walter  Clark,  A.M.,  LL.D. 
Collier  Cobb,  A.M. 
R.  D.  W.  Connor,  Ph.B. 
Henry  G.   Connor 
Mrs.  L.  W.  Crawford 
William  E.  Dodd,  Ph.D. 
Robert  Dick  Douglas,  A.B. 
Marshall  De  L.  Haywood 
L.  Lyndon  Hobbs,   A.M. 
William  Henry  Hoyt,  A.M. 
William  A, 


Thomas  N.   Ivey,  A.M  ,  D.D. 
Bertha  Marvin  Lee 
Paul  B.  Means,  A.B. 
Gertrude  Mendenhall,  B.S. 
James  H.   Myrover 
Frank  Nash 
Walter  L.  Parsons 
William  S.   Pearson,  A.B. 
Thomas  M.  Pittman 
George  Rountree 
William  Walter  Scott 
Egbert  W.  Smith,  A. B.,  D.D. 
Charles  M.  Stedman,  A.B. 
Zebulon  V.  Taylor 
Stephen  B.  Weeks,  Ph.D.,  LL.D. 
E.  Payson  Willard,  Ph.B. 
Withers,  A.M. 


WALTER   RALEIGH 

iHE  capital  of  the  State  of  North  Carohna  was 
at  its  incorporation  in  1792,  named  the  City  of 
Raleigh,  in  remembrance  of  "the  Citie  of  Ra- 
leigh," which  was  to  have  been  established, 
about  two  centuries  before,  on  Roanoke  Island 
by  the  English  colonists  under  the  direction  of 
Sir  Walter  Raleigh ;  and  thus  the  name  of  that  English  statesman, 
soldier,  sailor,  scholar  and  courtier,  who  first  conceived  the  idea 
of  creating  an  English  nation  in  the  New  World,  and  led  the  way 
in  colonization,  has  been  perpetuated  here  in  the  State  within 
whose  territory  he  made  the  first  entrance  into  the  wilderness  of 
America. 

The  family  of  Raleigh  was  an  old  and  honorable  one  of  Devon- 
shire, but  had  fallen  somewhat  into  decay ;  and  to  retrieve  his 
fortunes,  Walter  Raleigh,  of  Fardell,  the  father  of  the  subject  of 
this  sketch,  on  the  awakening  of  a  mercantile  spirit  early  in  the 
sixteenth  century,  connected  himself  with  some  of  the  merchants 
of  Exeter.  His  third  wife  was  Catherine  Campernoun,  the  wid- 
owed mother  of  Sir  Humphrey  Gilbert  and  Walter  Gilbert,  and 
by  her  Raleigh  had  two  sons,  Sir  Walter  and  Carey  Raleigh. 

Catherine  Champernoun  was  connected  with  Mrs.  Kate  Ash- 
ley, who  indeed  was  aunt  to  her  son,  Sir  Humphrey  Gilbert ;  and 
she  was  also  connected  with  the  Carey  family;  and  Queen  Eliza- 
it  has  been  deemed  best  to  insert  the  sketches  of  Walter  Raleigh   and  Virginia 
Dare  out  of  their  alphabetical  sequence. 


NORTH  CAROLINA 


beth's  nearest  kinsman  was  Henry  Carey,  Lord  Hunsdon,  the 
son  of  Mary  Boleyn,  the  Queen's  aunt. 

When  Anne  Boleyn  lost  her  head,  and  Elizabeth  was  declared 
illegitimate,  the  cast-off  Princess,  not  then  in  her  teens,  was  com- 
mitted to  Kate  Ashley,  whose  husband  was  her  kinsman,  and  who 
as  governess  was  charged  with  her  education  and  oversight;  and 
so  well  was  this  trust  discharged  that  Elizabeth  regarded  Kate 
Ashley  with  filial  affection.  During  this  period  of  her  young  life 
it  would  seem  that  Elizabeth  was  intimately  thrown  with  Hum- 
phrey Gilbert,  the  elder  half-brother  of  Walter  Raleigh,  for  on 
his  departure  to  explore  Newfoundland  she  sent  Raleigh  to  him 
with  the  direction  that  he  should  send  her  his  picture  and  should 
be  careful  of  himself ;  ''as  one  whom  she  had  tendered ;"  and 
doubtless  she  also  knew  Raleigh  himself  in  his  infancy.  These 
circumstances  and  associations  probably  had  much  to  do  with 
Raleigh's  subsequent  career,  for  the  Queen  showed  no  favor  to 
her  father's  kinspeople,  but  was  evidently  attached  to  those  con- 
nected with  her  on  her  mother's  side. 

Of  Raleigh's  early  life  but  little  is  recorded.  He  was  born  in 
1552,  at  his  father's  manor  house  of  Hayes,  and  the  only  record 
of  his  education  is  a  meagre  account  that  at  an  early  age  he  be- 
came a  commoner  of  Oriel ;  had  a  distinguished  career  at  Oxford, 
being  esteemed  a  wit  as  well  as  a  scholar,  although  not  a  student 
at  the  University  for  three  full  years. 

At  eighteen  he  was  in  active  service  as  a  soldier  in  the  civil 
wars  of  France,  where  he  remained  some  six  years,  gaining  laurels 
and  fame.  In  1576  he  was  in  Ireland,  where  Sir  Humphrey  Gil- 
bert had  been  President  of  Munster.  It  was  about  that  time  that 
Queen  Elizabeth  bestowed  on  Sir  Humphrey  a  patent  authorizing 
him  to  make  discoveries  and  settlements  in  America,  in  effect 
conferring  on  him  a  princedom  in  the  New  World,  with  permis- 
sion to  colonize  his  possessions  with  Englishmen.  In  this  first 
attempt  at  colonization,  Walter  Raleigh  was  associated  with  his 
great  half-brother,  but  did  not  accompany  him  on  his  ill-starred 
expedition.  In  1580  and  1581  Raleigh  was  a  soldier  in  Ireland, 
and  bore  dispatches  to  the  Queen  in  December,  1581,  remaining 


WALTER  RALEIGH 


at  court.  In  the  following  April  the  Queen  conferred  on  Raleigh 
the  command  of  a  band  of  footmen  in  Ireland,  "chiefly  that  our 
pleasure  is  to  have  our  servant,  Walter  Raleigh,  trained  some 
time  longer  in  that  our  realm  for  his  better  experience  in  martial 
affairs,  and  for  the  especial  care  that  we  have  to  do  him  good,  in 
respect  of  his  kindred  that  have  served  us,  some  of  them  (as  you 
know)  near  about  our  person.  These  are  to  require  you  that  the 
leading  of  the  said  band  may  be  committed  to  the  said  Raleigh ; 
and  for  that  he  is,  for  some  considerations,  by  us  excused  to  stay 
here,  our  pleasure  is  that  the  said  band  be,  in  the  meantime,  till  he 
repair  into  that  our  realm,  delivered  to  some  such  as  he  shall  de- 
pute to  be  his  lieutenant  there."  Raleigh  seems  never  to  have 
joined  his  troops  in  Ireland,  but  remained  at  Court,  where  the 
Queen  "took  him  for  a  kind  of  oracle.''  Particularly  did  he  com- 
mend hirriself  to  her  by  an  act  of  gallantry  in  spreading  his  fine 
cloak  "reverentially  on  the  ground  before  her  Majesty,  whereon 
the  Queen  trod  gently  over  a  miry  slough,  rewarding  him  after- 
wards with  many  suits  for  his  seasonable  tender  of  so  fair  a  foot- 
cloth." 

At  Court  Raleigh  developed  into  a  favorite  courtier,  and  after 
the  death  of  his  brother,  the  charter  of  colonization  being  about 
to  expire,  he  solicited  and  obtained  a  renewal  of  it.  It  is  to  be  ob- 
served that  this  favor  was  bestowed  by  Elizabeth  only  on  these 
two  half-brothers,  whose  fortunes  she  seemed  inclined  to  push  be- 
yond that  of  others  ;  although  it  is  equally  true  that  they  were  both 
deserving  of  peculiar  distinction  because  of  their  personal  char- 
acteristics and  attainments. 

Having  obtained  this  charter,  ambitious  and  hopeful,  Ra- 
leigh fitted  out  two  barks  and  sent  them  forth  under  the  com- 
mand of  Amadas  and  an  old  companion-in-arms,  Barlowe,  who 
had  served  with  him  in  France,  giving  them  particular  directions 
as  to  how  they  should  proceed.  Raleigh  evidently  proposed  to 
avoid  the  bleak  northern  coast  and  to  discover  an  eligible  location 
for  a  colony  in  a  more  temperate  latitude.  Many  gentlemen  ac- 
companied this  expedition,  which  indeed  excited  great  interest 
among  the  mercantile  classes  of  England.     Observing  Raleigh's 


NORTH  CAROLINA 


directions,  his  admirals  safely  arrived  at  Roanoke  Inlet  early  in 
July,  1584,  and  formally  took  possession  of  the  land  as  the  domain 
of  Walter  Raleigh  under  the  royal  grant  of  the  English  Queen. 
The  accounts  carried  back  were  marvellous.  The  newly  dis- 
covered land  was  a  veritable  Garden  of  Eden.  The  popular  furor 
at  the  success  of  the  expedition  was  immense,  and  Raleigh  was 
the  hero  of  the  age.  The  Queen  was  transported  with  enthusiasm. 
She  named  the  new  country  for  herself,  and  bestowed  upon 
Raleigh  the  honor  of  knighthood,  and  various  lucrative  monop- 
olies, and  otherwise  sought  to  advance  his  interests. 

At  great  expense  Raleigh  the  next  year  equipped  a  second  ex- 
pedition to  Virginia,  and  as  soon  as  that  had  sailed,  sent  out  the 
Davis  Expedition  to  discover  a  northern  route  to  India,  from 
which  "Davis  Straits"  on  the  ice-bound  coast  of  North  America 
takes  its  name. 

It  was  about  this  time  that  Elizabeth  entered  into  a  treaty  with 
the  Protestants  of  the  Netherlands,  and  thus  gave  cause  for  war 
with  Spain,  and  there  were  rumors  of  an  intended  invasion  of  Eng- 
land. In  this  supreme  moment  Raleigh  was  called  on  to  play  an 
important  part,  and  his  skill  in  maritime  as  well  as  military  affairs 
gave  him  still  greater  consequence.  He  became  Lord  Warden  of 
the  Stannaries  and  Vice-Admiral  of  Devon,  and  no  man  in  Eng- 
land was  more  engaged  in  public  business  than  he. 

To  build  forts,  to  equip  fleets,  to  muster  and  arm  the  companies 
of  his  territory  were  the  severe  duties  that  taxed  his  energies  to 
the  utmost  capacity. 

The  first  attempted  settlement  at  Roanoke  ended  in  disaster. 
Lane's  Colony  came  to  naught;  so  in  1587  Raleigh,  whose  means 
were  now  much  impaired,  proposed  a  new  plan,  and  admitted 
London  merchants  to  a  share  in  his  enterprise.  Nineteen  of 
these  associates  remained  at  home ;  while  thirteen,  John  White 
and  a  dozen  others,  were  constituted  "the  Governor  and  Assistants 
of  the  Citie  of  Raleigh  in  Virginia."  These  accompanied  the 
colony  to  Roanoke.  White  returned  to  England  the  same  year 
for  additional  supplies.  In  March,  1588,  Raleigh  prepared  a 
supply  expedition  to  be  commanded  by  Grenville;  but  a  Spanish 


WALTER  RALEIGH 


attack  being  imminent,  the  Queen  forbade  the  departure  of  any 
vessel,  and  particularly  assigned  Grenville  to  duties  of  defence. 
In  July,  1588,  the  great  Spanish  Armada,  whose  coming  had  been 
expected  with  such  apprehensions,  at  length  made  its  appearance, 
and  Raleigh  bore  himself  bravely  in  that  great  sea-fight.  His  ship 
was  one  of  those  which  kept  up  the  pursuit  till  the  last,  and  he 
saw  the  ending  of  what  Sir  Henry  Watton  called  "the  morris 
dance  on  the  waves." 

The  next  year  an  expedition  with  supplies  set  sail,  but  meeting 
with  hostile  vessels,  was  beaten  back  to  England;  and  Raleigh 
then  found  himself  so  engaged  that  of  himself  he  could  do  nothing 
more,  and  so  he  made  a  further  assignment  to  those  already  in- 
terested in  the  colony,  divesting  himself  of  nearly  every  right  as 
the  absolute  proprietor.  There  was  still  an  inhibition  on  the  de- 
parture of  vessels  from  England ;  but  Raleigh  finding  some  ships 
whose  owners  desired  to  send  them  to  the  West  Indies  to  trade 
and  prey  upon  the  Spaniards,  obtained  the  Queen's  assent  to 
their  departure  on  condition  that  they  would  carry  relief  to  the 
colonists  at  "the  City  of  Raleigh,"  in  Virginia.  And  so  at  last 
White  again  left  England  in  March,  1590.  He  found  that  the 
colonists  had  abandoned  Roanoke  Island ;  and  the  Lost  Colony  of 
Sir  Walter  Raleigh  has  ever  since  lived  a  mystery  in  song  and 
story.  It  is  recorded,  however,  that  Raleigh  never  forgot  their 
sad  fate,  and  between  that  time  and  1602  he  sent  five  separate  ex- 
peditions for  their  rescue. 

After  the  destruction  of  the  Armada  in  1588,  under  Raleigh's 
advice  England  boldly  took  the  seas  against  the  Spaniards  in  the 
contest  for  mastery,  and  every  year  and  every  month  brought  its 
new  duties  and  its  new  toils.  In  the  Fall  of  1588,  under  his  ad- 
vice, a  great  expedition  carried  the  war  into  Spain,  and  on  land 
and  sea  victory  attended  every  blow.  In  1591  it  was  a  great  expe- 
dition against  the  Azore  Islands  in  which  Raleigh's  boldest  cap- 
tain and  beloved  kinsman,  Grenville,  lost  his  life.  The  next  year 
it  was  the  expedition  against  Panama.  And  then  came  his  mar- 
riage and  consequent  imprisonment — and  the  only  hours  of  home 
life  at  his  beautiful  Manor  of  Sherborne,  where  for  a  season  he 


NORTH  CAROLINA 


toyed  with  love  and  revelled  in  the  pleasures  of  intelligent  recrea- 
tion. In  1595  he  set  sail  for  Guiana  to  explore  that  country. 
And  then  he  gained  his  highest  title  to  renown  in  the  victory  at 
Cadiz.  There  the  loss  of  life  was  great,  but  despite  all  the  car- 
nage, Raleigh  pursued  his  intent  and,  though  sorely  wounded,  did, 
not  desist  until  the  last  Spanish  flag  had  struck  and  the  last 
enemy  was  vanquished.  Again  at  Fayal  he  distinguished  him- 
self, performing  surprising  feats  of  personal  valor. 

During  all  these  years  he  also  served  in  Parliament,  and  boldly 
grappled  with  questions  requiring  extensive  information  and  a 
comprehensive  understanding  of  the  condition,  the  needs  and  re- 
sources of  the  English  people. 

He  was  truly  a  progressive  statesman  of  the  most  advanced 
school ;  laying  down  principles  and  policies  far  ahead  of  his  day, 
and  urging  measures  to  relieve  trade,  commerce,  agriculture  and 
manufactures,  to  relieve  of  all  those  restrictions  which  had  their 
origin  in  the  benighted  times  of  the  Middle  Ages.  He  was  for 
freedom — freedom  of  the  citizen,  freedom  of  trade,  disenthrall- 
ing the  people  from  the  burdens  which  tradition  had  fastened  upon 
them.  He  was  a  prodigy  in  genius,  a  man  of  lofty  mind,  lofty 
purposes,  and  of  wide  intelligence.  He  loved  knowledge  and  was 
ever  a  hard  and  systematic  student,  and  enjoyed  the  pleasures 
that  wait  on  a  comprehensive  understanding. 

In  the  year  1603  Elizabeth  died,  James  of  Scotland  fell  heir 
to  the  kingdom,  and  an  end  came  to  the  active  career  of  Walter 
Raleigh,  then  in  the  meridian  of  his  splendor  and  usefulness. 
There  is  a  hasty  line  by  an  obscure  writer  that  Raleigh  contem- 
plated the  possibility  of  a  commonwealth,  and  it  is  said  that  his 
unprinted  writings  were  treasured  by  John  Milton,  John  Hamp- 
den, and  other  patriots  of  the  next  generation.  But  he  was  not 
charged  because  of  his  liberal  principles,  but  for  an  alleged  con- 
spiracy in  the  interests  of  Spain,  in  which  there  was  no  proof  of 
his  complicity.  The  proceeding  was  not  a  trial ;  it  was  a  measure 
to  remove  Raleigh  even  though  at  the  cost  of  his  innocent  blood. 

In  November,  1603,  the  gates  of  the  Tower  closed  in  upon  him 
— the  poet,  the  scholar,  the  gallant  seaman,  the  brave  soldier,  the 


WALTER  RALEIGH 


admirable  statesman  and  unswerving  patriot,  the  first  man  of  his 
time  in  varied  accomplishments  and  universality  of  genius.  For 
fifteen  years  he  was  confined  to  the  Tower,  and  there  he  slaked  his 
thirst  for  ambition  in  deep  study  and  new  lines  of  thought.  His 
first  recourse  was  chemistry,  a  science  then  little  understood  and 
not  often  practised.  And  he  wrote  history,  ancient  and  modern, 
treatises  on  miHtary  and  maritime  affairs,  and  on  subjects  well 
nigh  covering  the  entire  realm  of  knowledge.  At  length  in  the 
spring  of  1618  Raleigh  was  released  to  go  about  with  a  keeper  to 
make  provision  for  a  voyage  in  search  of  gold  in  South  America. 
The  misfortunes  of  that  voyage  ended  his  career.  He  was  now 
charged  with  breaking  the  peace  with  Spain,  and  was  executed 
under  his  old  sentence. 

In  1602  Raleigh  had  sent  Mace  to  make  further  search  for  his 
colonists  in  Virginia.  When  Mace  returned,  Raleigh  was  in 
prison  and  his  rights  in  Virginia  were  forfeited  to  the  Crown. 
Three  years  later  ten  of  Raleigh's  associates  in  the  City  of  Ral- 
eigh, together  with  others  of  his  old-time  friends  and  connections, 
obtained  a  new  grant  from  the  Crown,  and,  following  the  original 
instructions  Raleigh  had  given  to  John  White,  made  in  1607  a 
settlement  on  the  Chesapeake,  and  the  work  of  creating  a  new 
nation  in  the  New  World  begun  by  Walter  Raleigh  twenty  years 
before  was  continued,  and  the  result  is  the  United  States  of 
America. 


S.  A.  Ashe. 


VIRGINIA    DARE 


HE  name  of  Virginia  Dare  is,  speaking  after 
the  manner  of  men,  immortal.  The  people  of 
the  Western  Hemisphere  in  the  centuries  to 
come  will  ever  recall  her  as  the  first  of  the 
English  race  to  be  born  in  the  New  World. 
Other  names  of  that  distant  era  will  fade  away 
from  the  remembrance  of  man,  but  in  the  far  future,  when 
hundreds  of  millions  of  people  shall  inhabit  America,  little 
Virginia  Dare  will  still  live  in  song  and  story. 

Of  her  brief  life  but  two  incidents  are  recorded :  she  was 
bom;  and  she  was  baptized  into  the  Christian  faith  according 
to  the  rites  of  the  English  Church — and  then  her  life  and  fate 
were  involved  in  impenetrable  obscurity.  But  she  was  the  first 
■of  the  English-speaking  race,  of  American  birth,  to  behold  these 
American  skies,  and  to  breathe  the  pure  air  of  a  virgin  con- 
tinent, then  uncontaminated  by  the  oppressions  of  men,  and 
which  has  become  the  home  of  the  free  and  the  land  of  Liberty ; 
and  even  the  mystery  attaching  to  her  unfortunate  fate  imparts 
to  her  an  additional  interest,  which  grows  with  the  passing 
years. 

On  July  4,  1584 — auspicious  day — Walter  Raleigh's  captains, 
Amadas  and  Barlowe,  first  sighted  land  somewhere  about  the 
"Cape  of  Fere,"  and  a  few  days  later  came  to  anchor  in  the  un- 
known  waters   of   the    New   World,   near   what   we   call    Cape 


Alexander  Brown  in  his  admirable  compilation  of  Historical  Manu- 
scripts, published  by  Houghton,  Mifflin  &  Co.,  in  1890,  under  the  title  oi 
"The  Genesis  of  the  United  States,''  Vol.  1,  page  184,  says  of  the  map  of 
which  the  accompanying  drawing  is  the  southern  part:  "This  chart 
must  have  been  sent  to  England  by  Captain  Francis  Nelson,  who  left 
Virginia  June  2,  1608.  It  illustrates  Captain  John  Smith's  'True  Rela- 
tion,' and  was  sent  from  Virginia  with  it." 

The  lettering  on  the  map  is  difficult  to  decipher,  some  of  the  names, 
indeed,  being  entirely  illegible.  Only  two  names  are  familiar  to  us : 
Chowan  and  Morattic.  Moratuc  was  the  Indian  name  of  the  Roanoke 
River,  and  was  continued  in  use  until  after  Bertie  County  was  settled, 
later  than  1700. 

The  original  map  being  made  from  some  description  given  by  an  In- 
dian not  familiar  with  the  region,  and  the  main  purpose  being  to  locate 
the  Lost  Colony,  the  prominent  features  of  the  drawing  are  the  rivers : 
the  Chowan,  the  Morattic,  and  a  third  not  named,  which,  being  next  to 
the  Roanoke,  must  be  the  Tar. 

With  the  coast-line  the  Indian  who  gave  the  account  was  probably  en- 
tirely unfamiliar ;  and  in  the  opinion  of  the  Editor  that  feature  of  the 
map  need  not  be  considered. 

Regarding  the  Morattic  as  the  Roanoke  River,  Ocanahonan  would  be 
on  a  tributary  of  the  Chowan,  either  on  the  Nottoway  or  the  Meherrin, 
perhaps  about  Murfreesboro ;  and  Pananiock  would  be  north  of  the 
Roanoke,  and  in  Bertie  County;  and  Pakrakwick  would  be  about  where 
Greenville  now  is  on  the  Tar. 

If,  however,  the  coast-line  plays  any  part  in  the  problem,  then  the  Mor- 
attic would  be  Pamlico  Sound,  and  the  third  river  would  be  the  Neuse. 
Pananiock  would  be  in  Hyde  County,  where  in  the  old  maps  Pomioc 
is  placed,  and  where  Smith  in  his  map  places  Pananiock.  And  in  that 
case  Pakrakwick  would  be  on  the  Neuse  where  Kinston  now  is; 
while  Ocanahonan  would  be  on  the  upper  waters  of  the  Roanoke.  The 
Editor,  however,  identifies  the  Morattic  with  the  Roanoke  River,  and 
places  this  Indian  locality,  Ocanahonan,  on  a  branch  of  the  Chowan, 
Pananiock,  where  the  Lost  Colony  settled,  would  then  seem  to  be  in  Ber- 
tie County.  By  reference  to  Lane's  account,  page  112,  first  volume  of 
Hawks,  it  would  seem  that  Lane,  with  whom  was  White,  had  a  favor- 
able opinion  of  the  "goodly  highland  between  Muscamunge  and  Chaw- 
anook,"  which  was  in  Bertie  County,  and  there  probably  White  designed 
that  the  settlement  should  be  made.  It  is  further  to  be  observed  that  in 
the  "True  and  Sincere  Declaration"  made  by  the  Governors  and  Coun- 
cillors of  the  Jamestown  settlement  in  December,  1609,  they  speak  of 
having  "intelligence  of  some  of  our  Nation  planted  by  Sir  Walter  Ra- 
leigh, yet  alive,  within  fifty  miles  of  our  fort,  who  can  open  the  womb 
and  bowels  of  this  country;  as  is  testified  by  two  of  our  Colony  sent  out 
to  seek  them,  who  (though  denied  by  the  savages  speech  with  them) 
found  Crosses  and  Letters,  the  Characters  and  assured  Testimonies  of 
Christians,  newly  cut  in  the  barks  of  trees."  (Brown's  "Genesis,"  Vol. 
I,  page  349.)  This  puts  some  of  the  Colony  within  fifty  miles  of  James- 
town or  Nansamond,  and  north  of  the  Roanoke  River. 


^*M' 


REPRODUCED  FROM  MAP  IN  ALEXANDER  BROWN'S  "GENESIS  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES" 
BY  PERMISSION  OF  THE  PUBLISHERS  OF  THAT  VALUABLE  WORK,  MESSRS.  HOUGHTON, 
MIFFLIN   &  CO.       IN  THIS  REPRODUCTION  THE  LETTERING  IS    MADE    MORE  LEGIBLE. 


VIRGINIA  DARE 


Hatteras.  When  their  boats  first  grated  upon  the  sand,  they 
sprang  upon  the  beach,  and  Captain  Amadas  proclaimed:  "We 
take  possession  of  this  land  in  the  right  of  the  Queen's  most 
excellent  Majesty,  as  rightful  Queen  and  Princess  of  the  same," 
and  then  they  delivered  the  same  "over  to  the  use  of  Walter 
Raleigh,  according  to  her  Majesty's  grant  and  letters  patent 
under  her  Highness'  great  seal."  Some  days  later  they  went 
twenty  miles  into  the  Sound  and  came  to  an  island  which  the 
Indians  called  Roanoke.  After  remaining  two  months  exploring 
this  delightful  country,  they  returned  home,  and  Queen  Eliza- 
beth bestowed  upon  her  new  possessions  the  name  of  Virginia, 
in  commemoration  of  herself,  the  Virgin  Queen. 

The  next  year,  for  purposes  of  exploration,  seven  ships  great 
and  small,  carrying  io8  men,  but  no  women  or  children,  set  sail 
from  England  on  the  9th  of  April,  and  arrived  at  Roanoke  on 
July  3d.  It  was  expected  that  other  settlers  would  come  to 
join  them  later.  For  a  year  they  lived  on  Roanoke  Island  and 
explored  the  sounds  and  country.  Among  them  were  distin- 
guished mathematicians,  scientific  men,  and  competent  draughts- 
men and  painters,  who  were  to  investigate  and  make  known  the 
manners  and  customs  of  the  natives  and  the  material  resources 
of  the  country.  Relying  on  being  supplied  from  home  with 
needed  provisions,  they  did  not  plant  crops  or  provide  for  their 
own  sustenance,  and  in  the  following  Spring  their  stores  were 
exhausted.  In  the  meantime  some  of  the  Indians  on  the  main- 
land had  become  very  hostile;  but  the  few  who  lived  on 
Croatan,  as  that  portion  of  the  ocean  banks  on  which  Cape 
Hatteras  is  situated  was  called,  were  always  friendly.  After 
many  vicissitudes,  being  often  in  peril  of  death  from  starvation 
and  of  being  cut  off  by  Indian  enemies,  some  vessels  touching, 
they  unfortunately  determined  to  abandon  the  settlement  and 
return  home.  Sailing  in  June,  they  reached  England  safely  on 
July  27,  1586.  But  hardly  had  they  set  sail  before  the  ship 
bringing  the  promised  supplies  arrived,  but,  finding  the  island  de- 
serted, it  also  returned  to  England. 

A   fortnight  later.   Sir  Richard   Grenville,   Raleigh's   cousin, 


lo  NORTH  CAROLINA 

arrived  with  three  ships;  and  unwilling  that  the  country  should 
be  abandoned,  he  left  fifteen  men  in  Fort  Raleigh,  on  Roanoke 
Island,  well  supplied  with  provisions.  The  next  year  a  permanent 
settlement  was  designed;  but  now  Sir  Walter  thought  it  best 
that  the  Colony  should  be  located  at  some  more  eligible  harbor 
on  the  Chesapeake  Bay,  and  gave  directions  accordingly.  He 
also  associated  with  himself  in  the  enterprise  some  thirty  mer- 
chants and  adventurers,  and  the  government  of  the  Colony  was 
invested  in  a  corporation  named  "The  Governor  and  Assistants 
of  the  Citie  of  Raleigh,"  of  whom  twelve  were  to  go  to  Virginia, 
the  others  interested  remaining  in  England. 

It  was  also  necessary  that  some  women  should  accompany 
the  Colonists,  and  as  the  settlers  were  not  to  return  to  England, 
that  they  take  their  wives  and  children  with  them.  No  woman 
had  yet  ventured  to  cross  the  great  ocean.  No  woman  had  ever 
thought  to  separate  herself  from  home  and  home  ties  and  seek 
a  strange  life  in  the  distant  country.  Doubtless  to  procure 
female  Colonists  strenuous  efforts  were  made,  with  only  partial 
success.  But  among  those  who  were  now  interested  in  the 
enterprise  was  John  White,  a  man  who  had  already  made  three 
voyages  to  Virginia,  a  man  of  education,  an  artist  as  well  as 
a  competent  manager.  He  had  drawn  the  charts  and  maps  made 
on  previous  explorations,  and  the  pictures  he  had  drawn  and 
painted  of  the  Indians  and  of  scenes  in  Virginia  are  still  pre- 
served in  the  British  Museum.  His  daughter  Eleanor  had  lately 
married  Ananias  Dare;  and  it  was  arranged  that  White  should 
come  as  Governor,  and  Ananias  Dare  should  be  an  Assistant, 
and  that  Eleanor,  yet  a  bride,  was  to  accompany  her  husband  and 
father.  This  perhaps  tended  to  induce  other  women  to  ein- 
bark,  and  sixteen  of  them  agreed  to  undertake  the  experience 
of  untried  life  in  far-away  Virginia.  Of  these  ten  appear  to  have 
been  wives  of  Colonists,  and  with  them  were  nine  children. 
There  were  in  addition  91  men,  and  with  the  Colonists  were 
two  Indians,  Manteo,  of  the  Hatteras  tribe,  and  Towaye,  then 
in  England,  who  now  returned  to  Virginia. 

On  the  26th  of  April,  1587,  they  departed  from  Portsmouth 


VIRGINIA   DARE  ii 

in  one  large  vessel  and  two  smaller  ones,  and  on  the  22nd  of  July 
they  arrived  at  Hattorask.  Qn  reaching  Roanoke  Island,  the 
Colonists  could  but  have  had  their  ardor  dimmed  and  their  ap- 
prehensions aroused  by  finding  that  the  fifteen  men  left  in  Fort 
Raleigh  a  year  before  had  been  murdered  by  the  Indians.  But 
nevertheless  they  disembarked  there,  although  their  destination 
was  intended  to  be  at  Chesapeake.  At  once  they  began  to  make 
themselves  comfortable,  building  houses  and  arranging  for  de- 
fence against  hostile  Indians. 

On  the  ■13th  of  August  an  interesting  ceremony  took  place. 
By  direction  of  Sir  Walter  Raleigh,  Manteo,  one  of  the  Hatteras 
Indians  who  had  been  to  England  and  who  had  always  been 
friendly  with  the  whites,  "was  christened  in  Roanoke  and  called 
Lord  thereof,  and  of  Dasamonguepeuk,"  which  was  the  name 
of  that  part  of  the  mainland  lying  opposite  to  Roanoke  Island. 

Five  days  later,  on  the  18th  of  August,  "Eleanor,  daughter 
to  the  Governor,  and  wife  to  Ananias  Dare,  one  of  the  Assistants, 
was  delivered  of  a  daughter  in  Roanoke,  and  the  same  was 
christened  there  the  Sunday  following;  and  because  this  child 
was  the  first  Christian  born  in  Virginia,  she  was  named 
Virginia." 

Although  in  the  list  of  the  Colonists  no  one  is  particularly 
named  as  a  minister,  or  as  a  physician,  yet  without  reasonable 
doubt  the  settlement  must  have  been  provided  with  both,  and 
the  mention  of  the  administration  of  the  rite  of  baptism  without 
any  other  particulars  woiild  indicate  that  it  was  performed  in 
the  manner  usually  practised  among  the  English  people  at  that 
time,  which  was  according  to  the  usages  of  the  Church  of 
England. 

The  ships  had  now  unladened  their  stores  and  began  to  take 
in  wood  and  fresh  water,  and  the  planters  also  prepared  their 
letters  and  tokens  to  send  back  to  England.  At  length  on  the 
22d  of  August  the  whole  company  requested  the  Governor  to 
return  to  England  "for  the  better  and  sooner  obtaining  of  sup- 
plies and  other  necessaries  for  them."  It  had  already  been 
determined    that    the    Colonists    should    remove    "fifty    miles 


12  NORTH  CAROLINA 

further  up  into  the  main  presently,"  and  Governor  White  ob- 
jected to  his  being  absent,  as  his  "goods  might  be  both  spoiled 
and  most  of  them  pilfered  away  in  the  carriage,  so  that  at  his 
return  he  would  be  utterly  unfurnished,"  wherefore  he  con- 
cluded that  he  would  not  go  himself  to  England.  The  next  day, 
however,  they  came  to  him  again,  renewing  their  entreaty  and 
promising  "to  make  him  their  bond  under  their  hands  and  seals 
for  the  safe  preserving  of  all  his  goods,  so  that  if  any  part 
thereof  was  spoiled  or  lost,  they  would  see  it  restored  to  him." 
Governor  White  at  last  yielded  to  their  extreme  entreaties,  and 
departed  from  Roanoke  on  the  27th  of  August,  and  the  two 
larger  ships  then  at  Hattorask  sailed  away,  leaving  only  a  pinnace 
with  the  Colonists. 

White,  who  had  been  in  three  previous  voyages,  probably 
knew  as  much  about  the  new  country  as  any  one.  He  had  now 
come  out  as  Governor  and  brought  with  him  his  daughter  and 
valuable  personal  belongings.  There  was  every  reason  for  him 
to  hurry  back.  He  reached  the  west  coast  of  Ireland  on  the 
1 6th  of  October;  but  circumstances  prevented  his  return  until 
1590.  He  left  Plymouth  on  the  20th  of  March  of  that  year,  and 
came  to  anchor  at  Hattorask  on  the  15th  of  August,  three  years 
after  he  had  bidden  good-bye  to  his  daughter  and  his  little 
granddaughter,  Virginia  Dare. 

After  numerous  distressing  experiences,  he  approached  Roan- 
oke Island.  In  his  account  of  his  voyage  published  in  1593,  he 
says  :  "We  put  off  from  Hattorask,  being  the  number  of  nineteen 
persons  in  both  boats ;  but  before  we  could  get  to  the  place  where 
our  planters  were  left,  it  was  so  exceeding  dark,  that  we  over- 
shot the  place  a  quarter  of  a  mile.  We  let  fall  our  grapnel  near 
the  shore  and  sounded  with  the  trumpet  a  call,  and  afterwards 
many  familiar  English  tunes  of  songs ;  and  called  to  them  friendly ; 
but  we  had  no  answer;  we  therefore  landed  at  daybreak.  In  all 
this  way  we  saw  in  the  sand  the  print  of  the  savages'  feet  of  two 
or  three  sorts  trodden  in  the  night ;  and  as  we  entered  up  the 
sandy  bank,  upon  a  tree,  in  the  very  brow  thereof,  were  curiously 
carved  these  fair  Roman  letters,  C.  R.  O.,  which  letters  presently 


VIRGINIA  DARE  13 


we  knew  to  signify  the  place  where  I  should  find  the  planters 
seated,  according  to  a  secret  token  agreed  upon  between  them 
and  me  at  my  last  departure  from  them ;  which  was,  that  in  any 
way  they  should  not  fail  to  write  or  carve  on  the  trees  or  posts 
of  the  doors  the  name  of  the  place  where  they  should  be  seated ; 
for  at  my  coming  away  they  were  prepared  to  remove  from  Roan- 
oke fifty  miles  into  the  main."  Governor  White  also  says  that 
he  found  on  one  of  the  chief  trees  graven  the  word  CROATOAN 
without  any  cross  or  sign  of  distress.  He  also  found  where 
divers  chests  had  been  hidden  and  long  since  digged  up,  and 
much  of  the  goods  in  them  spoiled  and  scattered  about;  of  these 
three  were  the  Governor's  own  chests,  and  about  the  place  were 
many  of  his  things  spoiled  and  broken,  and  his  books  torn  from 
the  covers,  and  the  frames  of  his  pictures  and  maps  rotten  and 
spoiled  with  rain,  and  his  armor  almost  eaten  through  with  rust. 
The  Colonists  had  long  since  departed.  Governor  White  did 
not  have  command  of  the  ships,  and  although  Croatoan  was 
near  by,  for  one  reason  or  another  no  particular  effort  was  made 
to  search  that  part  of  the  banks  for  the  English  settlers ;  but  the 
vessels  bore  away  and  eventually  came  to  anchor  in  Plymouth 
on  the  24th  of  October,  1590. 

In  subsequent  years  expeditions  were  sent  to  find  the  Lost 
Colony.  Even  as  late  as  March,  1602,  "a  barque  of  Dartmouth, 
called  The  Concord,  set  sail  for  the  northern  part  of  Virginia; 
at  which  time  likewise.  Sir  Walter  Raleigh  once  more  bought 
a  barque  and  hired  all  the  company  for  wages  by  the  month, 
employing  therein  for  chief  Samuel  Mace  (a  sufficient  mariner, 
who  had  been  twice  before  at  Virginia),  to  find  out  those  people 
which  he  had  sent  out  thither  by  Captain  White,  1587;  and  who, 
if  so  be  they  could  happily  light  upon  them,  were  like  enough 
to  instruct  us  the  more  perfectly  in  the  quality  of  the  natives." 

Unfortunately  all  the  vessels  sent  out  had  also  in  view  the  ob- 
taining of  sassafras  and  other  such  cargoes  for  purposes  of  trade ; 
and  coming  to  the  coast  north  or  south  of  Roanoke,  they  ob- 
tained their  cargoes  and  returned  home  without  entering  Roan- 
oke Sound,  and  the  Colonists  were  never  discovered. 


14  NORTH  CAROLINA 

At  length  the  settlement  was  made  at  Jamestown  in  1607,  and 
the  authorities  in  England  gave  positive  directions  that  efforts 
should  be  made  to  find  the  Lost  Colony  and  relieve  their  dis- 
tresses. Expeditions  were  sent  by  land  and  water,  but  without 
avail.  Powhatan,  the  Emperor  of  the  Virginia  Indians,  resided 
at  the  Falls  on  the  James  River,  and  the  Indians  on  the  Roanoke 
were  not  under  his  dominion.  Still  he  had  influence  with  them; 
and  from  friendly  Indians  it  was  learned  that  after  the  arrival 
of  the  colony  at  Jamestown,  he  had  caused  the  settlers,  who 
for  more  than  twenty  years  had  lived  peaceably  and  intermixed 
with  the  Indians  south  of  the  Chowan,  to  be  slaughtered,  al- 
though some  few  were  said  to  have  escaped.  The  exploring 
party  under  Newport,  in  1608,  "went  southward  to  some  parts  of 
Chowanook  and  the  Mangoangs,  to  search  there  those  left  by 
Sir  Walter  Raleigh."  Smith  in  his  "True  Relation,"  speaking 
of  Paspehegh,  the  King  of  the  few  Indians  who  lived  near 
Jamestown,  says :  "What  he  knew  of  the  Dominions  he  spared 
to  acquaint  me  with,  as  of  certain  men  cloathed  at  a  place  called 
Ocanahonan,  clothed  like  me." 

And  again :  "He  sent  from  Warraskoyack  Master  Scitle- 
more  and  two  guides  to  seek  for  the  Lost  Colony  of  Sir  Walter 
Raleigh.  We  had  agreed  with  the  King  of  Paspehegh  to  conduct 
two  of  our  men  to  a  place  called  Panawicke,  beyond  Roanoke, 
where  he  reported  many  men  to  be  appareled.  We  landed  him  at 
Warraskoyack,  where  playing  the  villaine  and  deluding  us  for 
rewarde,  returned  within  three  or  four  days  after,  without  going 
further."     This  was  in  1608. 

Alexander  Brown,  in  his  "Genesis  of  the  United  States,"  has 
reproduced  a  rude  drawing  made  from  Indian  descriptions  and 
sent  by  Thomas  Nelson  from  Virginia  in  1608  to  illustrate 
Smith's  "True  Relation"  in  this  particular  matter.  On  this 
map  Warraskoyack  is  on  the  Nansemond.  Ocanahonan  seems 
to  be  on  the  Nottoway.  On  the  Tar  is  located  "Pakrakanick," 
and  near  it  on  the  map  is  a  legend :  "Here  remayneth  four  men 
clothed  that  came  from  Roanoke  to  Ochanahonan."  Between  the 
Chowan  and  the  Morratock  (Roanoke  River)  on  the  map  is  an- 


VIRGINIA   DARE  15 


other  legend:  "Here  the  King  of  Paspehegh  reported  our  men 
to  be,  and  wants  to  go."  And  that  region  is  designated 
"Pananiock."  From  this  it  would  seem  that  White's  Colony,  after 
his  departure,  did  remove  into  the  interior,  and  located  in  either 
what  is  now  Bertie  County,  or  south  of  Albemarle  Sound. 

William  Strachey,  who  was  Secretary  of  the  Jamestown  Colony, 
arriving  there  in  1610,  in  his  ''Travaile  in  Virginia,"  written 
1613,  repeats  information  received  by  him  from  an  Indian  of 
Powhatan's  tribe  named  Machumps,  who  had  been  to  England, 
and  was  a  man  of  intelligence,  having  friendly  relations  with 
the  English,  and  to  whom  credit  is  due.  Strachey  says :  "The 
highland  is  in  all  likelihoods  a  pleasant  tract,  and  the  mould  fruit- 
ful, especially  what  may  lye  to  the  Southward,  where  at  Pec- 
carecamek  and  Ochanahoen,  by  the  relation  of  Machumps,  the 
people  have  houses  built  with  stone  walls,  and  one  story  above 
another ;  so  taught  them  by  the  English  who  escaped  the  slaughter 
at  Roanoke,  at  what  time  this  our  Colony,  under  the  conduct  of 
Captain  Newport,  landed  within  the  Chesapeake  Bay;  where 
the  people  breed  up  tame  turkeys  about  their  houses,  and  take 
apes  in  the  mountains;  and  where  at  Ritanoe  the  Weroance 
(the  Chief)  Eyanoco  preserved  seven  of  the  English  alive,  four 
men,  and  two  boys  and  one  young  mayde  (who  escaped  and  fled 
up  the  river  of  Chowanook)  to  beat  his  copper,"  etc. 

And  again,  says  Strachey :  "That  the  men,  women  and  chil- 
dren of  the  first  plantation  at  Roanoke  were  by  practize  and 
commandment  of  Powhatan  (he  himself  persuaded  thereunto 
by  his  priests)  miserably  slaughtered,  without  any  offence  given 
him,  either  by  the  first  planted  (who  twenty  and  od  years  had 
peaceably  lyved  intermyxed  with  those  savages  and  were  out 
of  his  territory)  or  by  those  who  now  are  come  to  inhabit  some 
parte  of  his  desarte  lands." 

And  still  again:  "He  (Powhatan)  doth  often  send  unto  us  to 
temporize  with  us,  awaiting  perhaps  a  fit  opportunity  (inflamed 
by  his  furious  and  bloody  priests)  to  offer  us  a  taste  of  the  same 
cup  which  he  made  our  poor  countrymen  drink  of  at  Roanoke." 

For  twenty  years  the  Lost  Colony  seem  to  have  lived  on  friend- 


i6  NORTH  CAROLINA 

ly  terms  with  the  Indians  bordering  on  Albemarle  Sound ;  and 
then  on  the  arrival  of  the  Jamestown  settlers,  Powhatan  had  them 
cut  off,  but  few  escaping.  It  is  a  bare  possibility  that  the  "young 
mayde"  who  found  protection  at  Ritanoe,  on  the  Chowan,  was 
Virginia  Dare,  whose  father,  probably  succeeding  White  as 
Governor,  might  have  found  means  for  her  escape,  although 
doubtless  many  children  in  the  meantime  had  been  born  in  the 
colony. 

The  only  other  reference  in  history  to  these  unfortunate  Colon- 
ists was  made  by  Lawson  in  1708 :  "A  further  confirmation  of  this 
we  have  from  the  Hatteras  Indians,  who  either  then  lived  on 
Roanoke  Island  or  much  frequented  it.  These  tell  us  that  several 
of  their  ancestors  were  white  people,  and  could  talk  in  a  book  as 
we  do ;  the  truth  of  which  is  confirmed  by  gray  eyes  being  found 
frequently  amongst  these  Indians  and  no  others.  They  value 
themselves  extremely  for  their  affinity  to  the  English,  and  are 
ready  to  do  for  them  all  friendly  offices.  It  is  probable  that  this 
settlement  miscarried  for  want  of  timely  supplies  from  Eng- 
land, or  through  the  treachery  of  the  natives,  for  we  may  reason- 
ably suppose  that  the  English  were  forced  to  cohabit  with  them 
for  relief  and  conversation ;  and  that  in  process  of  time  they  con- 
formed themselves  to  the  manners  of  their  Indian  relations ;  and 
thus  we  see  how  apt  hum.an  nature  is  to  degenerate." 

Lawson's  book  is  a  complete  study  of  conditions  in  Carolina  in 
1708:  of  the  people,  the  Indian  tribes,  their  languages,  manners 
and  customs ;  and  of  the  country  and  its  natural  products.  The 
Hatteras  Indians,  it  would  seem,  were  no  different  from  the 
others,  except  gray  eyes  were  frequently  found  among  them ;  and 
they  had  the  language,  manners  and  customs  of  an  Indian  tribe. 
At  that  time,  1708,  the  Hatteras  Indians,  occupying  the  sand- 
banks in  the  early  days  known  as  Croatan,  had  but  sixteen  fighting 
men.  They  were  probably  of  Southern  origin  like  the  Cora- 
nines,  while  the  other  tribes  of  Albemarle  and  Pamlico  were  of 
Northern  origin.  In  the  Indian  War  (1711-1716)  these  Indians 
were  friendly  to  the  whites  and  fought  for  them,  some  of  them 
being  captured  by  the  Indian  enemy,  and  the  tribe  became  very 


VIRGINIA  DARE  17 


much  impoverished,  and  probably  was  still  further  reduced  in 
numbers.  For  50  years  at  least  these  Indians  remained  in  their 
old  locality.  In  1763,  the  Hatteras  Mathaminkut  Indians  were 
still  living  on  the  coast  of  Hyde  County.  (Col  Rec.  vol.  6,  p.  995-) 
What  became  of  the  remnant  of  that  small  tribe  is  uncertain,  but 
the  tradition  of  a  mixed  race  inhabiting  lands  on  Drowning  Creek 
in  Robeson  County  indicates  that  they  may  have  formed  a  part  of 
that  settlement.  It  is  said  these  people  were  found  on  Drowning 
Creek  by  the  Scotch  who  first  settled  the  Upper  Cape  Fear  (1735) 
— about  twenty  years  after  the  Indian  War,  when  the  Hatteras 
Indians  were  living  on  the  sandbanks  of  Croatan.  In  1754  they 
were  described  as  follows :  "Drowning  Creek,  on  the  head  of 
Little  Pedee,  fifty  families,  a  mixed  crew,  a  lawless  people,  pos- 
sess the  lands  without  patent  or  paying  quit  rents;  shot  a  sur- 
veyor for  coming  to  view  vacant  lands,  being  enclosed  in  great 
swamps."  But  at  that  time  these  families  were  not  regarded  as 
Indians,  and  are  said  to  have  possessed  slaves,  to  speak  the  Eng- 
lish language,  to  till  their  lands,  and  practise  many  of  the  arts  of 
civilized  life,  being  in  these  respects  different  from  any  Indian 
tribe  then  known  on  the  continent.  The  difference  between  the 
Hatteras  Indians  and  the  other  tribes  some  forty  years  before 
was  scarcely  observable ;  the  change  indicated  above  was  too  great 
to  be  natural,  unless  indeed  the  tribe  received  many  accessions  of 
families  trained  to  civilized  life.* 

It  may  be  that  some  few  of  the  colonists  who  escaped  the 
slaughter  in  1607  made  their  way  to  the  sandbanks,  or  that  at 
some  earlier  time  some  of  the  English  colonists  had  intermingled 

*Mr.  Hamilton  McMillan,  A.M.,  in  1888,  wrote  an  account  of  the  Croa- 
tan Indians  of  Robeson  County  which  is  instructive  and  of  historical  im- 
portance, connecting  that  tribe  with  the  Hatteras  Indians,  with  whom 
some  of  Raleigh's  colonists  appear  to  have  co-mingled ;  and  in  1891  that 
painstaking  and  laborious  scholar,  Dr.  Stephen  B.  Weeks,  published  a 
very  valuable  pamphlet  in  which  he  collated  extracts  from  Strachey,  and 
Smith,  and  the  Relation  of  the  Virginia  Company  bearing  on  the  fate  of  the 
Lost  Colony — that  being  the  first  publication  of  the  kind  within  the  knowl- 
edge of  the  Editor  of  this  work;  and  the  Editor  desires  to  make  his 
acknowledgements  for  information  to  both  Mr.  McMillan  and  Dr.  Weeks. 


i8  NORTH  CAROLINA 

their  blood  with  these  Indians ;  but  after  a  hundred  years  the  ef- 
fects had  disappeared,  except  alone  in  the  gray  eyes  then  found 
among  them.     Certainly  no  houses  replaced  the  wigwams. 

But  while  this  faint  trace  of  the  blood  of  the  early  English  set- 
tlers probably  exists,  yet  there  is  no  reason  to  suppose  that  little 
Virginia  Dare  was  ever  connected  in  any  way  with  this  tribe.  Her 
fate,  like  that  of  her  mother,  is  a  mystery  that  time  and  circum- 
stances have  not  revealed.  She,  however,  lives  in  agreeable  fic- 
tion. It  has  been  said :  "By  the  Indians,  Eleanor  Dare,  the  first 
mother  of  the  white  race  known  to  them,  is  said  to  have  been 
called,  in  their  figurative  and  descriptive  way,  'The  White  Doe,' 
and  her  baby,  the  little  Virginia,  the  first  white  infant  they  had 
ever  seen,  'The  White  Fawn;'  and  there  is  a  pretty  tradition  that 
'after  her  death  her  spirit  assumed  that  form — an  elfin  fawn — 
which,  clad  in  immortal  beauty,  would  at  times  be  seen  haunting 
like  a  tender  memory  the  place  of  her  birth,  or  gazing  wistfully 
over  the  sea,  as  with  pathetic  yearning  for  the  far-away  Mother- 
land !"  Another  tradition  is  "that  in  that  sweet  form  she  was 
slain  by  her  lover,  a  young  Indian  Chief,  who  had  been  told  that 
if  he  shot  her  from  ambush  with  a  certain  enchanted  arrow,  it 
would  restore  her  to  him  in  human  form." 

The  venerable  Colonel  Creecy  has  also,  in  his  pleasant  way,  per- 
petuated a  "Legend  of  the  White  Doe."  and  Mrs.  Sallie  Southall 
Cotton  has  written  a  poem  on  the  same  subject. 

But  we  pass  these  legends  by,  as  also  one  perpetuated  by  Law- 
son.  "I  cannot  forbear,"  said  that  historian,  "inserting  here  a 
pleasant  story  that  passes  for  an  uncontested  truth  amongst  the 
inhabitants  of  this  place  (Croatan)  ;  which  is,  that  the  ship  which 
brought  the  first  colonists  does  often  appear  amongst  them,  under 
sail,  in  a  gallant  posture,  which  they  call  Sir  Walter  Raleigh's 
ship,  and  the  truth  of  this  has  been  affirmed  to  me  by  men  of  the 
best  credit  in  the  country." 

But  not  only  does  Virginia  Dare  live  in  story;  the  State  of 
North  Carolina  has  perpetuated  her  name  by  calling  a  county 
after  her  that  embraces  the  very  spot  where  she  first  saw  the 
light  of  day.  S.  A.   Ashe. 


ROBERT   ADAM 

OBERT  ADAM  was  the  first  captain  of  the 
Fayetteville  Independent  Light  Infantry,  which 
was  organized  on  the  23d  of  August,  1793.  He 
was  a  Fayetteville  merchant,  characterized  by 
the  thrift  and  steadfastness  of  his  nationality; 
but  the  old  records  represent  him  as  a  man  of 
liberal  views  and  public  spirit,  and  especially  devoted  to  his  com- 
mand, never  begrudging  his  time  or  the  contents  of  his  purse  in 
the  promotion  of  its  interests  on  imposing  occasions — parades, 
celebrations,  etc. 

Camp  Adam,  a  beautiful  grove  on  Haymount,  in  the  center  of 
which  was  a  large  stand  for  public  exercises,  was  named  in  honor 
of  this  gallant  Scotch  captain,  and  remained  intact  up  to  the 
breaking  out  of  the  Civil  War.  There  the  Fourth  of  July  celebra- 
tions, May-day  picnics  and  similar  ceremonies  were  wont  to  take 
place.  Handsome  residences  now  cover  the  site  of  old  Camp  Adam. 
Robert  Adam  prospered  at  merchandising  in  Fayetteville,  but  in 
the  closing  years  of  the  eighteenth  century  he  removed  to  Wil- 
mington, and  continued  in  business  for  some  time,  with  a  country 
place  nearly  opposite  Wrightsville  Beach.  At  this  residence  he 
died  on  the  nth  of  June,  1801,  in  the  zenith  of  his  manhood, 
aged  only  forty-two  years.  Many  years  afterward  his  remains 
were  exhumed,  conveyed  to  Fayetteville  and  deposited  in  a  grave 
in  the  southwest  corner  of  old  Cross  Creek  Cemetery. 


20  NORTH  CAROLINA 

On  a  warm  day  of  early  Fall  I  stood  beside  the  resting  place  of 
this  sterling  citizen  and  faithful  soldier,  within  a  few  feet  of  the 
high  bluff  which  forms  the  extremity  of  th^  inclosure.  In  the 
hot  sunshine  a  lizard,  lithe  and  sinuous,  flashed  green  and  gold 
across  the  old  broken  wall,  vibrant  and  electric  with  nature's  warm, 
glowing  life;  from  the  mill  below  the  whirr  of  machinery  beat 
the  air  with  the  throb  of  industrial  force,  and  the  water  dashed 
off  the  mill-wheel  with  impatient  vigor  and  went  foaming  and 
whirling  on  its  way.  But  where  I  stood  was  the  realm  of  repose 
and  peace,  and  the  majesty  of  silence  was  over  all.  Let  the  epitaph 
on  the  plain  marble  tablet  above  his  head  tell  the  short,  simple 
story  of  Robert  Adam's  life : 

"Beneath  this  stone  are  deposited  the  mortal  remains  of  Robert  Adam, 
a  native  of  Greenock,  Scotland,  and  for  many  years  a  merchant  of  Fayette- 
ville  and  Wilmington,  who  departed  this  life  June  ii,  1801,  aged  forty-two 
years.  He  was  universally  beloved  and  regretted.  In  his  conduct  and 
deportment  through  life  was  combined  all  that  should  adorn  the  Christian 
character  and  constitute  the  honorable  man,  the  kind  husband  and  affection- 
ate parent. 

"  'Stranger,   welcome  to  the  scene — 

The  last  in  Nature's  course. 

The  first  in  Wisdom's  thought.'  " 

Robert  Adam  left  to  his  successor  a  military  corps  which  has 
achieved  an  illustrious  history  through  a  period  of  one  hundred 
and  twelve  years,  never  having  forfeited  its  organization  or 
allowed  it  to  fall  into  disuse  from  the  day  of  its  founding  to  the 
present  time.  It  offered  its  services  in  the  War  of  1812,  and 
marched  toward  Wilmington,  going  into  camp  near  that  city, 
but  its  presence  on  the  field  was  not  needed.  Many  of  its  members 
took  part  in  the  war  with  Mexico.  It  was  one  of  the  first  bodies 
of  volunteer  soldiery  to  tender  itself  to  the  State  and  the  Con- 
federacy, being  Company  H  of  the  famous  Bethel  Regiment  at 
Yorktown ;  and  during  the  four  years  following  its  rank  and  file 
furnished  to  other  regiments,  battalions,  etc.,  some  of  the  most 
distinguished  officers  in  the  Southern  armies.  It  enlisted  for  the 
Spanish-American  War,  but  was  not  mustered  into  active  service, 


ROBERT  ADAM  21 


being  in  Colonel  Burgwyn's  Regiment,  its  commander  Major  Ben- 
jamin R.  Huske,  and  was  encamped  on  Tybee  Island,  opposite 
Savannah,  Georgia,  until  the  close  of  hostilities. 

Its  peace  record  has  been  brilliant  and  full  of  stirring  incidents. 
In  its  devotion  to  the  South  and  the  memory  of  the  Confederate 
soldier,  it  retired  from  the  State  Guard  some  years  ago  rather 
than  discard  the  honored  grey  when  blue  was  adopted  as  the 
regulation  color  of  uniform.  It  has  since  been  rehabilitated,  and 
is  now  Company  F,  Second  Regiment,  National  State  Guard, 
Captain  N.  H.  McGeachy  commanding.  The  old  Independent 
Light  Infantry  now  constitutes  a  battalion,  there  being  a  reserve 
corps  still  wearing  the  grey,  the  battalion  under  command  of 
Major  J.  C.  Vann.  At  the  centennial  celebration  at  Philadelphia, 
in  1876,  the  company,  then  commanded  by  Major  Charles  Haigh, 
won  highest  praise  from  prominent  officers  of  the  regular  army 
for  its  bearing,  drill  and  exercise  of  arms  in  the  great  parade  of 
July  4th.  It  has  also  taken  part  in  many  other  imposing  public 
ceremonies  in  different  parts  of  the  country. 

In  1828  the  General  Assembly  of  North  Carolina,  in  tribute  to 
its  distinction  as  a  corps  and  to  its  splendid  service,  passed  a 
special  act  conferring  the  brevet  rank  of  major  on  its  captain 
and  of  captain  on  its  lieutenants.    This  act  is  in  force  to-day. 

The  motto  of  the  Fayetteville  Independent  Light  Infantry  is  the 
exclamation  of  the  great  King  Henry  V.  of  England,  just  before 
the  battle  of  Agincourt  in  France : 

"He  that  hath  no  stomach  to  this  fight,  let  him  depart." 

/.  H.  Myrover. 


SPENCER    BELL    ADAMS 

N  the  opening  chapter  of  an  unpublished  book 
written  by  Hon.  Albert  J.  Beveridge,  member 
of  the  United  States  Senate  from  Indiana, 
entitled  "The  Young  Man  and  the  World/'  he 
discusses  the  matter  of  man's  limitations  to 
success  in  these  truthful  words :  "First  let  him 
learn  his  limitations;  let  him  take  time  enough  to  think  out  just 
what  he  cannot  do.  By  finding  out  one's  limitations  is  not  meant, 
of  course,  what  society  will  permit  you  to  do,  but  what  nature 
will  permit  you  to  do.  You  have  no  other  master  than  nature. 
Nature's  limitations  only  are  the  bounds  of  your  success.  So  far 
as  your  success  is  concerned,  no  man,  no  set  of  men,  no  society, 
not  even  all  the  world  of  humanity,  is  your  master,  but  nature 
is.  A  man  may  make  himself  what  he  will  within  the  limitations 
nature  has  set  about  him." 

No  man  will  fail  of  success  in  life  who  believes  that  his  Creator 
designed  no  limitation  upon  his  advancement  save  that  imposed 
by  the  laws  of  nature.  This  belief  or  conviction  or  faith  finds 
its  fullest  fruition  in  a  free  country.  It  is  strangled  in  its  infancy 
in  a  despotism  where  it  has  neither  air  nor  room  nor  light  in 
which  to  bud,  to  flower  and  bring  forth  fruit.  Sometimes  it  seems 
to  come  as  a  gift  direct  from  Heaven,  regardless  of  environment, 
but  as  a  rule  it  owes  its  origin  to  the  natural  forces  which  surround 
and  envelop  a  man  who  realizes  in  his  childhood  or  early  youth 


^c£er^y^/iy^ 


SPENCER  BELL  ADAMS  23 

that  his  duty  demands  of  him  great  efforts,  and  who  knows  by 
sad  experience,  already  and  so  soon,  that  his  struggle  with  poverty 
will  be  fierce  and  hard.  It  does  not  flourish  amidst  the  vice  and 
luxury  engendered  by  a  vast  accumulation  of  wealth. 

The  supreme  power  of  such  a  faith  has  been  well  illustrated 
in  the  life  of  Judge  Spencer  Bell  Adams.  His  parents,  John  A. 
Adams  and  Sarah  A.  Adams,  came  from  Virginia  to  North  Caro- 
lina in  1857  and  settled  near  Dobson,  in  Surry  County.  Here 
Judge  Adams  was  born  on  the  15th  of  October,  i860.  His  father 
was  a  farmer  and  large  slave-holder.  He  was  respected  wherever 
known  for  his  integrity  and  unflinching  adherence  and  devotion 
to  whatever  principle  or  cause  he  believed  to  be  right.  He  had 
strong  convictions.  Notwithstanding  his  interest  apparently 
pointed  the  other  way,  he  was  intensely  opposed  to  secession  and 
devoted  to  the  Union  of  the  States.  Yet  when  hostilities  com- 
menced between  the  North  and  the  South,  he  espoused  the  cause 
of  his  own  section,  and  sent  his  sons  to  the  battlefield,  although  he 
had  no  faith  in  the  final  result.  He  was  an  ardent  Whig,  and 
Judge  Adams  owes  a  part  of  his  name  to  the  fact  that  he  was 
born  during  the  Bell  and  Everett  campaign,  in  which  his  father 
took  an  active  part.  He  was  called  after  John  Bell  of  Tennessee, 
the  Whig  candidate  for  President.  His  mother  was  a  Christian 
woman  of  unusual  force  of  character,  who  was  loved  for  her 
benevolence  and  kindness.  She  had  great  influence  with  both  her 
husband  and  her  children,  who  were  devotedly  attached  to  her. 

The  early  days  of  Judge  Adams  were  full  of  perplexity  and 
severe  trial.  Whilst  only  a  lad  he  realized  that  he  must  depend 
absolutely  upon  his  own  exertions.  His  father,  whose  fortune 
had  been  destroyed  by  the  result  of  the  Civil  War,  died  when  he 
was  only  two  years  of  age,  and  his  mother  died  when  he  was 
eleven.  They  left  to  their  children  only  the  heritage  of  a  name 
loved  by  their  neighbors  and  without  stain  or  reproach.  Yet 
young  as  he  was,  and  dreary  as  the  outlook  for  him  seemed  to  be, 
he  was  not  discouraged  nor  disheartened.  He  resolved  to  make 
the  money  necessary  to  defray  the  expenses  of  his  education,  it 
mattered  not  how  severe  the  task.     And  so  he  did.    He  toiled  at 


24  NORTH  CAROLINA 

manual  labor  wherever  he  could  find  employment,  and  with  his 
earnings  paid  for  his  board  and  tuition  at  the  schools  which  he 
attended  later  at  Riceville,  Virginia,  and  Booneville  and  Rocking- 
ham, North  Carolina.  He  entered  the  famous  law  school  of 
Dick  and  Dillard  at  Greensboro  in  January,  1881,  and  remained 
there  until  February,  1882,  when  he  obtained  from  the  Supreme 
Court  of  North  Carolina  license  to  practise  in  the  several  courts 
of  the  State.  He  soon  thereafter  located  at  Yanceyville,  the  county 
seat  of  Caswell,  and  commenced  a  professional  career  which  has 
been  eminently  successful,  and  which  has  won  for  him  the  respect 
of  all  who  have  an  interest  in  the  profession  of  law  and  love  its 
good  name. 

Judge  Adams  has  always  been  a  Republican  in  his  political 
faith,  although  tolerant  of  the  opinions  of  others  who  differ  with 
him.  He  has  ever  asserted  publicly  and  privately  that  in  his 
opinion  the  success  and  glory  of  our  country  is  inseparably  con- 
nected with  the  success  of  the  Republican  Party.  Those  who 
know  him  do  not  doubt  his  sincerity,  however  much  they  may 
question  the  accuracy  of  this  statement.  His  aggressiveness,  his 
capacity  for  organization,  and  his  recognized  loyalty  and  fidelity 
to  its  principles  have  given  him  a  commanding  influence  in  his 
party,  of  which  he  is  an  acknowledged  and  trusted  leader.  In 
November,  1882,  he  was  elected  clerk  of  the  Superior  Court  and 
ex-ofRcio  probate  judge  for  Caswell  County.  He  was  reelected  in 
1886  by  a  very  large  majority,  only  twelve  votes  having  been  cast 
at  the  polls  against  him.  He  was  again  reelected  in  1890  and 
1894.  He  resigned  this  office  in  1896,  two  years  before  the  term 
for  which  he  had  been  elected  had  expired.  He  was  elected  a 
judge  of  the  Superior  Court  in  November,  1896,  and  took  the 
oath  of  office  on  December  30,  1896.  Yielding  to  the  insistent 
demands  of  his  party  friends,  who  regarded  him  as  the  strongest 
candidate  they  could  possibly  name,  he  resigned  his  position  as 
a  judge  of  the  Superior  Court  to  be  a  candidate  for  Congress  in  the 
Fifth  Congressional  District  against  Hon.  W.  W.  Kitchin,  the 
Democratic  nominee,  by  whom  he  was  defeated.  He  moved  to 
Greensboro  in  the  fall  of  1898.     He  was  elected  secretary  and 


SPENCER  BELL  ADAMS  25 

treasurer  of  the  North  CaroUna  Railroad  Company  in  July,  1899, 
and  held  this  position  until  July,  1901.  Li  May,  1900,  his  party 
called  upon  him  to  carry  its  banner  in  a  hopeless  struggle.  He 
had  done  so  before,  when  he  made  the  fight  against  Mr.  Kitchin, 
a  strong  man,  in  a  district  overwhelmingly  Democratic. 
Hon.  Charles  B.  Aycock,  one  of  the  ablest,  most  popular  and  most 
eloquent  men  living  in  the  State  of  North  Carolina,  was  nominated 
by  the  Democratic  Party  for  the  office  of  governor.  His  great 
personal  strength  was  supplemented  by  the  intense  feeling  en- 
gendered by  the  race  issue  in  that  campaign.  Judge  Adams  was 
selected  by  the  Republican  Party  to  make  the  fight  against  him. 
Although  it  was  manifest  to  all  that  his  defeat  was  certain  by  a 
large  majority,  he  accepted  the  nomination,  and  made  the  sacrifice 
without  a  murmur.  In  the  estimation  of  his  political  friends  he 
gained  rather  than  lost  prestige  in  this  campaign  fought  under 
very  adverse  circumstances.  He  was  appointed  by  President 
Roosevelt,  and  confirmed  by  the  Senate  on  the  ist  of  July,  1902, 
chief  judge  of  the  Choctaw  and  Chickasaw  Citizenship  Court,  a 
special  appellate  court  created  by  act  of  Congress  to  try  questions 
as  to  Indian  citizenship  in  the  Indian  Territory.  His  associate 
judges  were  H.  S.  Foote,  formerly  of  Mississippi,  and  W.  L. 
Weaver,  ex-member  of  Congress  from  Ohio.  The  work  of  this 
court  was  completed  and  its  existence  was  terminated  by  limitation 
on  the  31st  of  December,  1904.  Judge  Adams  then  returned  to 
Greensboro,  where  he  has  since  resided  and  been  engaged  in  the 
practice  of  his  profession.    His  business  is  large  and  lucrative. 

His  judicial  career,  both  as  a  State  and  a  Federal  judge,  won 
for  him  high  praise.  His  conduct  on  the  bench  was  marked  by 
firmness,  impartiality  and  courtesy  to  all.  He  sought  the  path 
of  duty  and  followed  where  it  led,  regardless  of  the  results  to 
himself.  A  notable  instance  of  his  adherence  to  duty  and  his 
respect  for  the  constitutional  rights  of  the  citizens  of  the  State 
was  his  decision  in  Wood  v.  Bellamy.  This  case  was  heard  by 
him  at  chambers  at  Raleigh,  in  April,  1896,  and  will  be  found  in 
120  North  Carolina  Reports,  at  page  212.  In  March,  1897,  the 
"Fusion"  legislature  passed  an  act  entitled  "An  Act  to  Charter 


26  NORTH  CAROLINA 

the  Eastern  Hospital  for  the  Colored  Insane,  and  the  Western 
Hospital  for  the  Insane,  and  North  Carolina  Insane  Asylum  at 
Raleigh,  and  to  Provide  for  their  Government,"  which  purported 
to  repeal  the  charters  of  the  North  Carolina  Insane  Asylum  at 
Raleigh,  the  Western  North  Carolina  Insane  Asylum  near  Mor- 
ganton  and  the  Eastern  North  Carolina  Insane  Asylum  near 
Goldsboro,  and  to  abolish  the  offices  of  superintendent  and  direct- 
ors of  such  institutions  and  to  recharter  them  under  other  names, 
and  to  create  offices  to  be  filled  by  officers  under  such  designations. 
The  object  of  those  who  passed  the  act  was  manifestly  to  provide 
places  for  persons  of  the  same  political  faith.  Public  interest  in 
the  decision  of  the  court  as  to  the  validity  of  the  act  was  intense. 
If  it  was  sustained  and  declared  to  be  constitutional,  it  meant  that 
these  institutions  would  be  at  the  mercy  of  the  politicians  of  both 
political  parties,  as  they  might  be  respectively  victorious  in  future 
contests.  Wood  v.  Bellamy  was  the  test  case.  Judge  Adams  ad- 
judged the  act  to  be  illegal  and  unconstitutional  in  so  far  as  it  at- 
tempted to  abolish  the  offices  of  superintendent  and  directors  of 
such  institutions  or  to  deprive  the  holders  thereof  of  them  before 
the  expiration  of  the  terms  for  which  they  were  respectively  elected 
and  appointed.  This  decision  was  a  sore  disappointment  to  a  few 
extreme  partisans,  who  desired  to  see  the  act  sustained ;  but  the 
best  men  of  all  political  parties  rejoiced  that  this  young  Republican 
judge  rose  superior  to  temptation  and  declared  the  law  as  it  was, 
and  that  he  was  sustained  by  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  State,  to 
which  an  appeal  had  been  taken  from  his  decision.  For  the  firm- 
ness, moral  courage  and  learning  shown  by  him  in  rendering  this 
decision  Judge  Adams  received  unstinted  praise  from  the  most 
prominent  and  influential  newspapers  in  the  State,  as  well  as  from 
the  people  at  large.  At  the  close  of  his  term  of  office  as  chief 
judge  of  the  Choctaw  and  Chickasaw  Citizenship  Court  he  was 
complimented  in  very  high  terms  by  the  Department  of  Justice 
at  Washington,  District  of  Columbia,  for  the  ability  and  integrity 
with  which  he  had  discharged  his  duties. 

The  domestic  life  of  Judge  Adams  has  been   fortunate  and 
happy.     He   was   married   on   the    19th   of   February,    1884,   to 


SPENCER  BELL  ADAMS 


27 


Miss  Lizzie  L.  Swift  of  Caswell  County,  a  lady  who,  by  her  refine- 
ment of  character,  her  gentle  disposition  and  high  sense  of  duty 
to  her  husband  and  children,  has  made  their  home  one  of  rest, 
contentment  and  happiness. 

The  story  of  the  life  of  Judge  Spencer  B.  Adams  is  well  worth 
the  study  of  every  boy  whose  young  life  is  burdened  by  poverty 
and  anxiety  for  the  future.  It  will  teach  him  that  in  this  great 
American  Republic  the  avenues  to  honor  and  prosperity  are  open 
to  all  who  recognize  the  dignity  and  honor  of  labor,  who  follow 
the  pathway  of  morality  and  virtue  and  who  keep  the  faith  with 
their  own  conscience  and  with  their  fellow-men. 

Charles  M.  Stedman. 


GEORGE  BURGWIN  ANDERSON 


NE  of  the  many  North  CaroHna  soldiers  who 
rose  to  distinction  during  the  War  between  the 
States  was  George  Burgwin  Anderson,  who  was 
born  in  the  county  of  Orange,  near  Hillsboro, 
North  CaroHna,  on  the  12th  of  April,  1831.  His 
father  was  Colonel  William  E.  Anderson,  and 
his  mother  belonged  to  a  well-known  North  Carolina  family,  whose 
several  branches  have  varied  the  spelling  of  their  patronymic, 
writing  it  both  Burgwin  and  Burgwyn.  Mrs.  Eliza  Anderson, 
mother  of  the  general,  was  a  daughter  of  George  Burgwin,  of 
New  Hanover  County. 

George  B.  Anderson,  after  due  preparation,  entered  the  Uni- 
versity of  North  Carolina  and  remained  there  during  the  session 
of  1 847- 1 848.  In  the  latter  year  he  was  appointed  to  a  cadetship 
in  the  United  States  Military  Academy  at  West  Point,  his  stand- 
ing being  always  near  the  head  of  his  class. 

On  graduating,  the  first  of  July,  1852,  he  was  appointed  brevet 
second  lieutenant  in  the  Second  Dragoons,  and  was  commissioned 
second  lieutenant  on  the  21st  of  March,  1854.  He  was  promoted 
to  the  rank  of  first  lieutenant  on  December  13,  1855.  From  May 
27  to  September  8,  1857,  and  from  August  8,  1858,  to  June  24, 
1859,  he  held  the  post  of  regimental  adjutant.  The  greater  part 
of  the  active  service  of  Lieutenant  Anderson  in  the  United  States 
Army  was  in  the  West.    Much  of  the  Kansas  turmoil,  immediately 


GEORGE  BURGWIN  ANDERSON  29 

preceding  the  war,  fell  under  his  personal  observation,  and  he 
marched  under  Colonel  Albert  Sydney  Johnston  to  quiet  the 
Mormon  troubles  in  Utah.  Upon  the  outbreak  of  the  War  between 
the  States,  George  B.  Anderson  was  one  of  the  first  of  those  de- 
voted Southerners  who  resigned  from  the  Army  of  the  United 
States — indeed.  Lieutenant  Anderson  did  not  wait  for  North 
Carolina  to  pass  her  Ordinance  of  Secession,  but  resigned  on  the 
25th  of  April,  1861.  Upon  tendering  his  services  to  North  Caro- 
lina they  were  gladly  accepted,  and  he  was  commissioned  colonel 
of  the  Fourth  regiment  of  State  troops  in  May,  1861.  The  or- 
ganization of  the  regiment  was  begun  at  Raleigh  and  completed 
at  Garysburg,  and  it  arrived  at  Manassas  on  July  29th.  Though 
too  late  to  participate  in  the  battle  of  Manassas,  the  Fourth  regi- 
ment did  garrison  duty  in  that  vicinity  till  March  8,  1862,  when  it 
was  ordered  to  Clark's  Mountain,  near  Orange  Court  House. 
Though  only  a  colonel  in  rank,  Anderson  was  now  acting  as  com- 
manding officer  of  a  brigade  composed  of  the  49th  Virginia,  the 
27th  and  28th  Georgia,  and  the  4th  North  Carolina,  Major  Bryan 
Grimes  acting  as  colonel  of  the  last-named  command.  On  the  8th 
of  April  orders  were  received  to  repair  to  Yorktown,  and  here  some 
skirmishing  occurred.  On  the  4th  of  May,  1862,  Yorktown  was 
evacuated  and  the  brigade,  under  Acting  Brigadier  General  An- 
derson, repaired  to  Williamsburg,  where  the  troops  on  May  Sth 
witnessed  for  the  first  time  a  pitched  battle,  though  not  allowed 
to  participate,  being  held  in  reserve.  The  first  important  battle 
in  which  the  troops  under  Anderson  were  engaged  was  at  Seven 
Pines,  otherwise  known  as  Fair  Oaks,  and  his  conduct  in  this  fight 
won  for  him  a  commission  as  brigadier  general.  At  Seven  Pines, 
Major  Grimes  commanded  the  Fourth  regiment,  and  Anderson 
was  commander  of  the  brigade,  though  not  yet  a  brigadier  general 
in  point  of  real  rank.  One  of  the  many  acts  of  prowess  which  won 
fame  for  Colonel  Anderson  occurred  at  Seven  Pines,  when  he 
seized  the  flag  of  the  27th  Georgia  Regiment,  whose  color-bearer 
had  been  shot  down,  and  led  a  charge  which  captured  one  of  the 
enemy's  works.  President  Davis  was  present  at  this  battle,  and 
immediately  promoted  Colonel  Anderson,  who  received  his  com- 


30 NORTH  CAROLINA 

mission  as  brigadier  general  on  the  9th  of  June,  1862.  The  new 
brigade  assigned  to  General  Anderson  was  composed  entirely  of 
North  Carolina  regiments — the  2nd,  4th  and  30th.  In  the  seven 
days'  fight  around  Richmond,  Anderson's  brigade  won  a  high 
reputation,  and  its  commander  received  a  wound  in  the  hand  at 
Malvern  Hill.  In  the  Maryland  campaign,  the  brigade  formed  a 
part  of  the  command  of  General  D.  H.  Hill,  whose  single  division 
held  McClellan's  whole  army  in  check  at  South  Mountain  until 
the  arrival  of  Longstreet.  Having  on  this  occasion  held  McClellan 
at  bay  till  Jackson  could  capture  Harper's  Ferry,  Hill's  division 
three  days  later,  on  September  17,  1862,  was  engaged  as  the  great 
battle  of  Antietam,  known  in  the  South  as  Sharpsburg.  Here 
Anderson's  brigade  was  again  engaged,  and  here  he  received  a 
wound  which  eventually  proved  fatal.  In  this  battle,  as  was 
usually  the  case,  the  Confederates  were  largely  outnumbered,  Mc- 
Clellan's force  being  upwards  of  87,000  men,  while  Lee's  was  less 
than  40,000.  In  this  unequal  conflict  General  Anderson  was  struck 
on  the  foot  by  a  minie  ball  and  fell  to  the  ground.  At  first  the 
wound  was  not  thought  to  be  of  a  dangerous,  or  even  serious,  na- 
ture. Together  with  his  brother  and  aide-de-camp.  Captain 
Walker  Anderson,  who  had  also  been  wounded  at  Sharpsburg 
and  was  afterwards  killed  at  the  Wilderness,  General  Anderson 
was  carried  to  the  home  of  his  brother.  Colonel  William  E.  Ander- 
son, in  Raleigh.  His  wound  growing  worse,  amputation  was  de- 
cided upon,  but  this  operation  was  too  late.  He  died  on  the  i6th 
of  October,  1862.  This  event  cast  a  gloom  over  the  State,  and 
at  Raleigh,  the  capital,  a  public  meeting,  called  by  the  Mayor,  was 
held  to  take  suitable  action  looking  to  his  burial. 

The  remains  of  General  Anderson  are  interred  just  northward 
of  the  Confederate  plot  in  Oakwood  Cemetery,  at  Raleigh,  and  a 
white  marble  shaft  marks  his  resting  place.  On  Confederate 
Memorial  Day,  in  1885 — May  loth — General  Anderson's  life  and 
military  career  were  the  theme  of  an  eloquent  and  instructive  ad- 
dress delivered  by  Colonel  Alfred  Moore  Waddell,  and  from  that 
are  obtained  many  of  the  facts  mentioned  herein.  Other  tributes 
will  be  found  in  the  North  Carolina  Confederate  regimental  his- 


GEORGE  BURGWIN  ANDERSON  31 

tories,  where  Rev.  E.  A.  Osborne,  formerly  a  colonel  in  the  Con- 
federate Army,  says :  "The  writer  of  this  sketch  knew  him  well 
and  loved  him  much.  He  was  a  perfect  specimen  of  a  man  in 
every  way,  a  graduate  of  West  Point,  a  devoted  churchman,  a 
pure  and  chivalrous  gentleman,  as  modest  and  chaste  as  a 
woman,  as  brave  and  daring  as  a  man  could  be.  His  was  a 
very  great  loss."  Later  on.  Colonel  Osborne  says :  "He  had  a 
handsome  figure,  was  a  fine  horseman,  a  splendid  tactician,  had 
a  clear  musical  voice,  a  mild  blue-gray  eye,  a  fine  golden  beard, 
long  and  flowing,  and  a  very  commanding  presence.  His  dis- 
cipline was  mild,  but  firm ;  and  his  patriotism  of  the  very  highest 
order."  In  the  same  work.  General  William  R.  Cox  writes  of 
Anderson  as  follows:  "Physically  he  was  a  splendid  specimen 
of  young  manhood,  six  feet  in  height,  broad-shouldered,  erect 
and  thoughtful,  and  endowed  with  a  commanding  and  well 
modulated  voice."  More  brief,  yet  none  the  less  forcible,  is  a 
tribute  to  General  Anderson  by  that  heroic  veteran,  Colonel  Frank 
M.  Parker,  who  says :  "The  State  gave  no  finer  soldier  to  our 
cause." 

While  General  Anderson  was  a  lieutenant  in  the  United  States 
Army,  prior  to  the  war,  he  was  married  on  November  8,  1859, 
to  Miss  Mildred  Ewing,  of  Louisville,  Kentucky.  To  this  union 
were  born  two  children,  one  of  whom  died  young;  the  other, 
George  B.  Anderson,  Esq.,  still  survives. 

Marshall  De  Lancey  Haywood. 


JOHN  BAPTISTA  ASHE 

'  N  a  letter  written  by  Colonel  Pollock  in  February, 
1718,  he  mentions  Mr.  Ashe,  and  about  that 
time  John  Baptista  Ashe  married  Elizabeth 
Swann,  a  daughter  of  Colonel  Sam  Swann  by 
Elizabeth  Lillington,  and  a  sister  of  Speaker 
Sam  Swann  of  the  succeeding  generation.  It  is 
probable  that  Mr.  Ashe  located  in  the  Albemarle  about  the  time  of 
his  marriage,  and  that  all  of  his  children  were  born  in  that  section. 
He  was  Receiver  of  the  "powder  money"  at  Bath  from  1723  to 
1726.  On  January  15,  1724,  Governor  Burrington  appeared  in  the 
colony  and  took  the  oaths  of  ofSce.*  Mr.  Ashe  was  a  member  of 
the  old  Wiltshire  family  of  that  name,  and  Edward  Ashe,  one  of  the 
Board  of  Trade  and  Plantations,  having  direction  of  the  colonies, 
was  his  kinsman ;  Burrington  had  known  several  members  of  Mr. 
Ashe's  family  in  England,  and  was  not  unnaturally  drawn  to  him 
in  this  new  and  wild  country.  By  his  marriage  Ashe  had  be- 
come son-in-law  to  the  wife  of  Colonel  Maurice  Moore  and  a 
nephew  of  Edward  Moseley,  and  was  allied  with  the  family  con- 
nections of  the  Porters  and  Lillingtons,  which  represented  the 
interests  of  the  people  in  opposition  to  the  interests  of  the  Lords 
Proprietors.  Governor  Burrington,  through  his  association  with 
Ashe,  thus  fell  under  the  influence  of  the  leading  inhabitants  of 
the  Province,  and  he  undertook  to  advance  their  purposes,  being 
*Vol.  3,  p.  371. 


JOHN  BAPTISTA  ASHE  33 

in  full  accord  with  them.  Indeed  it  appears  that  the  officers  rep- 
resenting the  Lords  Proprietors  informed  their  lordships  that 
Burrington  was  preparing  to  bring  about  a  revolution  similar  to 
that  which  in  1719  had  wrested  South  Carolina  from  their  control ; 
so  that  on  the  7th  day  of  April,  1725,  the  Lords  Proprietors  ap- 
pointed Sir  Richard  Everard  to  succeed  Burrington.  In  July 
Everard  took  the  oaths  and  dissolved  the  Assembly  which  was 
favorable  to  Burrington.  The  new  Assembly  met  in  November, 
Maurice  Moore  being  the  Speaker,  and  Burrington  a  member  of 
the  Legislature,  along  with  Mr.  Ashe.  The  Governor  had  under- 
taken to  prorogue  this  Assembly  before  its  meeting,  and  Ashe 
was  appointed  one  of  the  committee  to  draw  up  a  protest.  The 
House,  however,  having  transacted  some  business,  of  itself  ad- 
journed to  the  following  April  agreeably  to  the  prorogation. 
""When  it  met,  Ashe,  who  represented  Beaufort  precinct,  was 
chosen  Speaker,  Speaker  Moore  not  appearing.  The  House  again 
resolved  that  the  prorogation  was  illegal,  and  an  address  was  pre- 
pared and  approved  and  ordered  to  be  signed  by  the  Speaker,  and 
delivered  to  the  late  Governor  of  the  Province,  Burrington ;  and 
another  address  was  prepared  and  signed  by  the  Speaker  and  sent 
to  the  Lords  Proprietors,  in  which  the  House  severely  arraigned 
the  Chief  Justice,  Attorney  General,  and  the  Secretary  as  "evil- 
minded  persons,  who  have  for  many  years  been  the  common  dis- 
turbers of  the  peace  and  tranquillity  of  the  Province."  In  all  these 
matters  Ashe  was  the  warm  friend  of  Burrington,  and  when  Bur- 
rington because  of  his  disorderly  conduct  was  indicted,  he  ap- 
peared as  attorney  for  him. 

Burrington  had  joined  with  Colonel  Maurice  Moore  in  opening 
up  the  Cape  Fear,  and  in  1725  grants  were  located  at  Old  Bruns- 
wick and  along  the  river,  by  Burrington  and  others.  And  there 
Ashe  also  located  in  1727.  Burrington's  relations  with  Ashe  were 
so  friendly  that  on  his  departure  from  the  Province  and  return  to 
England  he  left  all  of  his  afifairs  in  Ashe's  hands. 

In  1729  the  Crown  purchased  Carolina,  and  Burrington  was  ap- 
pointed the  first  Royal  Governor  of  North  Carolina.  He  recom- 
mended the  appointment  of  Ashe  among  others  as  a  member  of 


34  NORTH  CAROLINA 

his  council,  and  doubtless  expected  his  aid  in  his  administration. 
But  now  conditions  were  changed,  and  Burrington,  on  his  return 
in  1 73 1,  instead  of  being  friendly  with  what  might  be  called  the 
Popular  Party  in  the  Province,  was  required  by  the  Crown  to  as- 
sert prerogatives  which  Ashe  and  his  friends  would  not  submit 
to.  It  soon  appeared  to  the  Governor  that  "Ashe  was  altogether 
bent  on  mischief."*  In  the  council  he  organized  opposition  to  the 
Governor  and  eventually  controlled  that  body  against  him,f  while 
in  the  House  Edward  Moseley  exerted  a  potent  influence  in  op- 
position to  the  Governor's  instructions.  A  great  contest  ensued, 
characterized  by  bitterness  and  personal  enmity.  Both  Ashe  and 
Burrington  resorted  to  the  most  extreme  measures,  and  on  one 
occasion  Burrington  caused  Ashe's  arrest  and  incarceration.  So 
resolute  and  determined  were  the  leaders  of  the  Popular  Party 
to  maintain  what  they  regarded  as  their  chartered  rights,  that 
during  Burrington's  entire  administration  not  a  single  Act  was 
passed  by  the  General  Assembly.  At  one  time  it  was  in  con- 
templation that  Ashe  should  go  to  England  to  obtain  Burrington's 
recall,  but  the  communications  of  Ashe  and  Rice,  covering  charges 
of  misconduct  on  the  part  of  Burrington,  and  the  Governor's  own 
indiscreet  letters  to  the  Board  of  Trade,  rendered  that  unnecessary ; 
and  in  the  summer  of  1733  Gabriel  Johnston  was  appointed  to  sup- 
plant him ;  but  Governor  Johnston  did  not  arrive  in  the  Province 
until  June,  1734. 

Ashe  had  joined  his  family  connections  in  making  the  settle- 
ment on  the  Cape  Fear,  which  at  that  time  was  a  wilderness 
separated  by  a  great  distance  from  the  inhabited  parts  of  Car- 
teret precinct,  of  which  it  formed  a  part — and  it  may  be  stated  in 
passing  that  many  of  the  early  deeds  and  grants  for  land  on  the 
Cape  Fear  are  recorded  at  Beaufort. 

On  the  formation  of  New  Hanover  Precinct  and  the  passage 
of  the  Currency  Act  of  1729,  Ashe  became  Treasurer  of  the  new 
Precinct,  and  retained  that  office  until  his  death.  While  he  owned 
lands  on  Rocky  Point,  and  had  a  sawmill  higher  up  the  Northeast 
River,  his  residence  plantation  was  at  Old  Town;  and  he  died 
*C.  R.  Vol.  3,  p.  332.  tC.  R.  Vol.  3,  p.  331. 


JOHN  BAPTISTA  ASHE  35 

there  in  November,  1734.  He  left  two  sons  and  one  daughter,  the 
latter  becoming  the  wife  of  George  Moore,  a  son  of  "King" 
Roger  Moore.  The  youngest  son,  Samuel,  born  1725,  was  after- 
wards Governor  of  the  State,  1795- 1798;  the  eldest  son  was 
General  John  Ashe,  born  in  1720,  and  distinguished  for  his  Rev- 
olutionary services. 

As  some  indication  of  the  ideas  then  prevalent  on  the  Cape  Fear, 
the  following  extract  is  made  from  the  will  of  Mr.  Ashe :  "I  will 
that  my  slaves  be  kept  at  work  on  my  lands,  that  my  estate  may 
be  managed  to  the  best  advantage,  so  as  my  sons  may  have  as 
liberal  an  education  as  the  profits  thereof  will  afford.  And  in 
their  education  I  pray  my  executors  to  observe  this  method :  Let 
them  be  taught  to  read  and  write,  and  be  introduced  into  the 
practical  part  of  arithmetic,  not  too  hastily  hurrying  them  to 
Latin  or  grammar;  but  after  they  are  pretty  well  versed  in  these, 
let  them  be  taught  Latin  and  Greek.  I  propose  this  may  be  done 
in  Virginia,  after  which  let  them  learn  French.  Perhaps  some 
Frenchman  at  Santee  will  undertake  this.  When  they  are  ar- 
rived to  years  of  discretion,  let  them  study  the  Mathematics.  To 
my  sons  when  they  arrive  at  age  I  recommend  the  pursuit  or 
study  of  some  profession  or  business  (I  would  wish  one  to  the  law, 
the  other  to  merchandise),  in  which  let  them  follow  their  own 
inclinations. 

"I  will  that  my  daughter  be  taught  to  write  and  read  and  some 
feminine  accomplishments  which  may  render  her  agreeable,  and 
that  she  be  not  kept  ignorant  as  to  what  appertains  to  a  good 
housewife  in  the  management  of  household  affairs." 

5.  A.  Ashe. 


JOHN  ASHE 

fOHN  ASHE,  the  eldest  son  of  John  Baptista 
Ashe,  born  in  the  Albemarle  region  in  1720,  is 
spoken  of  by  the  historian  Jones  as  the  most 
chivalric  hero  of  the  Revolution.  His  career, 
at  least,  was  remarkable  for  its  dramatic  epi- 
sodes. At  ten  years  of  age  he  was  bereft  of 
his  mother,  and  at  fourteen  he  lost  his  father,  himself  the  oldest 
of  three  orphan  children.  But  even  under  these  unhappy  circum- 
stances, his  early  life  was  fortunately  cast.  His  uncle.  Speaker 
Sam  Swann,  eminent  for  his  virtues  and  public  worth,  was  his 
guardian,  and  he  was  raised  at  Rocky  Point  among  his  kindred, 
the  families  of  Colonel  Maurice  Moore,  Edward  Moseley,  the 
Porters,  Swanns  and  Lillingtons.  He  was  possessed  of  a  compe- 
tency, and  is  said  to  have  been  educated  in  England,  and  he  named 
two  of  his  sons  after  English  kinsmen,  from  whom  he  doubtless 
at  that  period  received  some  particular  kindnesses.  He  was  a  read- 
ing man  and  possessed  a  library  which  he  prized  so  highly  that 
during  the  Revolution  he  made  particular  efforts  to  preserve  it, 
secreting  it  in  a  huge,  hollow  cypress  in  Burgaw  swamp. 

A  man  of  good  address,  he  excelled  as  an  orator,  and  perhaps 
in  this  regard  he  was  unequalled  by  any  of  his  contemporaries  in 
North  Carolina.  When  he  came  to  man's  estate,  his  elders  were 
men  of  affairs,  and  he  had  to  wait  his  turn  to  enter  upon  official 
life.     At  thirty-one  he  became  a  Justice  of  the  Peace  for  New 


JOHN  ASHE  37 


Hanover  County,  and  the  next  year  he  was  elected  to  the  Assem- 
bly to  succeed  his  uncle,  Jdhn  Swann,  then  appointed  to  the 
Council. 

In  1749  John  Starkey,  of  Onslow,  who  was  his  friend,  had 
brought  in  a  bill  to  establish  a  free  school ;  and  an  appropriation 
of  6000  pounds  had  been  made  for  that  purpose.  The  first  day 
Ashe  took  his  seat  as  a  member  of  the  Assembly,  he,  Ormond  and 
Starkey  were  appointed  a  Committee  to  prepare  an  answer  to  the 
opening  speech  of  the  Governor.  The  answer  was  reported 
to  the  House  by  Mr.  Ashe  and  was  clear  and  spirited,  and  without 
a  doubtful  note :  "We  intend  to  frame  such  other  laws  as  shall 
be  judged  needful  and  consistent  with  the  circumstances  of  our 
constituents,  whereby  the  public  worship  of  Almighty  God  may  be 
efifectually  supported,  the  virtuous  education  of  our  youths  pro- 
moted, our  trade  and  navigation  enlarged  and  encouraged."* 

At  the  session  of  1754  the  Committee  of  Propositions  and 
Grievances,  of  which  Ashe  was  a  member,  reported  a  recom- 
mendation that  the  6000  pounds  theretofore  appropriated  for  a 
public  school  should  be  used  for  that  purpose ;  but  the  exigencies 
of  the  moment  required  the  Assembly  to  divert  it  for  the  defense 
of  the  western  parts  of  the  Province  then  attacked  by  the  Indians. 
However,  that  Assembly  allowed  an  aid  of  40,000  pounds  to  the 
King,  and  18,000  pounds  in  the  same  bill  was  appropriated  to 
establish  public  schools,  but  for  some  reason  the  Board  of  Trade 
always  withheld  the  King's  assent,  and  the  law  was  never  car- 
ried into  effect. 

The  year  1754  ushered  in  many  changes  in  North  Carolina.  In 
that  year  the  French  and  Indian  War  broke  out,  and  Colonel  Innes 
was  appointed  to  command  a  regiment  raised  in  North  Carolina 
for  the  protection  of  Virginia.  At  that  time  John  Ashe  was  the 
senior  Captain  of  Innes'  Militia  Regiment,  and  he  now  became 
Major  of  that  Regiment  ;t  and  he  was  also  an  Aide  of  Colonel 
Innes,  and  as  such  went  to  Virginia  for  him  on  military  business. 
He  continued  an  active  member  of  the  Assembly,  always  employed 
on  important  matters;  and  at  its  session  in  December,  1758,  when 
*C.  R.  Vol.  4,  p.  1332.  tVol.  s,  p.  163. 


38  NORTH  CAROLINA 

the  Assembly  appointed  an  agent  for  the  Province  in  London,  it 
appointed  a  Committee  of  Correspondence  to  communicate  with  its 
agent,  composed  of  Speaker  Swann,  Barker,  Starkey,  George 
Moore  and  John  Ashe.*  At  the  same  session  "Mr.  Ashe,  accord- 
ing to  order,  laid  before  the  House  an  address  to  his  Majesty," 
in  which  after  mentioning  the  expense  the  province  had  borne  in 
defence  of  the  Colonies,  the  Assembly  asked  that  the  allowance 
the  Crown  was  expected  to  make  by  way  of  reimbursement  "might 
be  used  in  purchasing  a  glebe  for  each  Parish,  and  erecting  and 
establishing  a  free  school  in  each  County. "f  The  address  was 
ordered  to  be  presented  to  the  King,  but  Ashe's  plan  for  free 
schools  was  not  to  materialize.  Governor  Dobbs  had  other  views, 
and  the  fund  allowed  by  the  King  was  eventually  dissipated 
through  the  contrivances  of  the  Governor. 

The  antagonism  between  the  leaders  of  the  Assembly  and  the 
Governors,  which  began  in  the  proprietary  times  and  was  more 
pronounced  after  the  purchase  of  the  Province  by  the  Crown, 
continued  with  increasing  violence  during  Governor  Dobb's  ad- 
ministration. The  Assembly,  under  the  control  of  Swann,  Ashe 
and  their  associates,  claimed  the  exclusive  right  of  naming  the 
Treasurers,  the  Agent  at  London,  and  Public  Printer,  and  of 
laying  taxes  and  directing  the  payment  of  all  public  moneys. 
The  Governor  denounced  these  leaders  as  being  a  "junto  whose 
purpose  was  to  absorb  the  powers  of  the  Governor  and  Council." 
It  was  indeed  a  long  and  obstinate  conflict,  the  popular  leaders 
being  insistent  on  establishing  and  maintaining  the  rights  and 
liberties  of  the  people  and  the  rightful  powers  of  the  Assembly. 

At  the  Assembly  of  1762  Swann  declined  to  serve  longer  as 
Speaker,  and  Ashe,  who  had  constantly  risen  in  importance,  suc- 
ceeded him;  and  at  the  Assembly  of  February,  1764,  he  was  re- 
elected to  that  commanding  position.  At  the  session  of  November, 
1764,  a  new  element  entered  into  the  political  situation.  Parlia- 
ment had  adopted  a  resolution  that  the  Colonies  should  be  taxed 
to  support  the  Empire,  and  in  June  a  Committee  of  the  Massa- 
chusetts Assembly  addressed  a  circular  letter  to  the  other  Colo- 
*Vol.  5,  p.  1087.  tVol.  5,  p.  1094. 


JOHN  ASHE  39 


nies  on  this  subject.  On  November  17th  Speaker  Ashe  laid  this 
communication  before  the  Assembly,  and  a  Committee  composed 
of  the  Speaker,  Starkey,  McGuire,  Harnett  and  Maurice  Moore 
was  appointed  to  make  a  suitable  reply  to  it.*  In  their  answer 
North  Carolina  expressed  her  concurrence  with  Massachusetts. f 

Another  sharp  conflict  over  the  exclusive  rights  and  privileges 
of -the  House,  not  only  as  against  the  Governor  and  the  Crown, 
but  as  against  the  Council,  also  made  this  session  memorable ;  and 
at  its  close  the  House  formally  resolved :  "That  the  Treasurers  do 
not  pay  any  money  out  of  any  fund  by  order  of  the  Governor  and 
Council  without  the  concurrence  or  direction  of  this  House." 

Governor  Dobbs,  then  quite  old,  died  on  March  28,  1765,  and 
Colonel  Tryon,  who  had  arrived  some  months  earlier  as  Lieuten- 
ant-Governor, entered  on  the  administration,  and  convened  the 
Assembly  at  New-Bern  on  May  3rd.  In  addition  to  provincial 
matters,  the  purpose  of  Parliament  to  tax  America  now  became  a 
cause  of  irritation  and  excitement.  That  was  a  question  so  novel 
that  public  opinion  was  not  entirely  settled.  In  June,  Otis  of 
Massachusetts  first  suggested  a  Continental  Congress,  and  that 
course  was  later  determined  on.  In  North  Carolina  the  feeling 
was  so  strong,  says  Bancroft,  "that  the  inhabitants  set  up  looms 
for  weaving  their  own  clothes ;  and  South  Carolina  was  ready  to 
follow  their  example."  At  the  May  session  the  Assembly  had 
been  prorogued  till  November,  and  North  Carolina  had  no  oppor- 
tunity of  appointing  delegates  to  that  first  Continental  Congress, 
which  met  on  October  7th;  and  indeed,  in  October,  Governor 
Tryon  prorogued  the  Assembly  again  until  March ;  and  eventu- 
ally he  dissolved  it  without  allowing  it  to  meet  again.  The  Stamp 
Act,  passed  in  March,  was  to  go  into  operation  in  the  Colonies  in 
November;  but  although  William  Houston  had  been  appointed 
Stamp  Master  for  North  Carolina,  the  stamps  had  not  yet  arrived 
from  England.  Nevertheless  the  people  of  Wilmington  and  of 
the  Cape  Fear  determined  that  the  Act  should  not  be  enforced  in 
the  Province.  There  were  several  great  popular  demonstrations 
against  the  Act,  and,  on  the  i6th  of  November,  Houston,  having 
*Vol.  6,  p.  1296.  tBancroft. 


40  NORTH  CAROLINA 

come  to  Wilmington  from  his  home  in  Duplin,  was  seized  by  the 
people  under  the  leadership  of  De  Rosset  and  forced  to  resign 
his  office.*  Two  days  later  Governor  Tryon  had  fifty  of  the 
gentlemen  of  the  Cape  Fear  to  dine  with  him  at  Brunswick,  and 
they  told  him  that  they  could  not  permit  the  act  to  be  enforced; 
while  John  Ashe,  the  Speaker,  warned  him  that  it  would  be  re- 
sisted to  blood  and  death.f  On  November  28th  the  stamps  arrived, 
but,  there  being  no  Stamp  Master,  remained  on  shipboard.  There 
was,  however,  a  general  cessation  of  business  throughout  the 
Province,  although  there  was  no  cause  for  an  outbreak  until  in 
January,  when  two  merchant  vessels  coming  into  the  Cape  Fear 
were  seized  because  their  clearance  papers  were  not  duly  stamped. 
Some  days  then  elapsed  before  the  law  officers  determined  what 
course  the  Government  should  pursue.  In  the  meantime  the  lead- 
ers on  the  Cape  Fear  were  arranging  their  plans.  The  Mayor  of 
Wilmington  resigned,  and  Moses  John  De  Rosset,  a  strenuous 
leader  against  the  Stamp  Act,  was  elected  to  replace  him.  Rocky 
Point  for  a  generation  had  been  the  residence  of  Moore,  Moseley, 
Swann,  Ashe  and  Lillington ;  and  it  was  still  the  centre  from 
which  emanated  the  influences  directing  public  action.  The  people 
of  Onslow,  Duplin  and  Bladen  were  brought  together  at  Wilming- 
ton to  meet  those  of  New  Hanover  and  Brunswick ;  and  they  en- 
tered into  an  association: — "Detesting  rebellion,  yet  preferring 
death  to  slavery,  ...  we  hereby  mutually  and  solemnly 
plight  our  faith  and  honor  that  we  will  at  any  risk  whatever,  and 
whenever  called  upon,  unite  and  truly  and  faithfully  assist  each 
other  to  the  best  of  our  power  in  preventing  entirely  the  opera- 
tion of  the  Stamp  Act."I  Of  this  association  Bancroft  says : 
"Still  more  bold,  if  that  were  possible,  was  the  spirit  in  North 
Carolina."  On  that  occasion  John  Ashe  was  the  leading  spirit. 
He  was  now  to  make  good  his  warning  to  Governor  Tryon  that 
the  people  would  resist  to  blood  and  death.  Like  some  John 
Hampden  he  drew  his  friends  around  him,  and  at  the  meeting  at 
Wilmington,  on  the  i8th  of  February,  he  and  his  kinsman,  Alex- 
ander Lillington,  and  Colonel  Thomas  Lloyd  became  "Directors" 
*VoI.  7,  p.  168.  tVol.  7,  P.  Notes  III.  ,        JVol.  7,  p.  i68c. 


JOHN    ASHE  41 


to  direct  the  movement;*  and  General  Hugh  Waddell  was  ap- 
pointed to  marshal  and  command  the  citizen  soldiery,  numbering 
near  1000  armed  men.f  It  was  not  a  mob,  but  an  orderly  move- 
ment of  the  people  under  civil  authority  of  their  own  appointment, 
with  the  military  subordinate  to  the  Directory,  at  the  head  of  which 
was  the  Speaker  of  the  Assembly.  Accompanying  the  Directors 
were  the  Mayor  and  corporation  of  Wilmington,  and  gathered 
around  them  were  all  the  gentlemen  of  the  Cape  FearJ — a  glori- 
ous cavalcade  of  patriots  intent  on  a  high  purpose  and  full  of  high 
resolve.  But  it  was  treason.  Well  might  the  eloquent  Davis  ex- 
claim: "Take  care,  John  Ashe!  Hugh  Waddell,  beware!" 
Marching  to  Brunswick,  Fort  Johnston  was  seized,  the  Crown  offi- 
cials arrested,  the  war  vessels  of  Great  Britain  defied,  their  com- 
manders constrained  to  surrender  the  detained  merchant  ships, 
and  the  Stamp  Act  was  annulled  in  North  Carolina.  In  triumph 
the  people  returned  to  their  homes  victors  over  the  government 
and  the  King's  forces.  The  effect  and  influence  of  this  daring  and 
victorious  movement  on  the  spirit  of  the  Province  can  neither  be 
estimated  nor  portrayed. 

In  a  few  months  the  news  came  that  the  obnoxious  Act  was  re- 
pealed ;  and  that  brief  period  of  storm  and  rebellious  action  gave 
place  to  one  of  great  joy  and  demonstrations  of  loyal  attachment 
to  the  King;  and  in  the  midst  of  the  rejoicing  a  new  Assembly 
was  elected.  Governor  Tryon  had  manifested  his  indignation  at 
the  course  of  Judge  Maurice  Moore,  Ashe's  brother-in-law,  dur- 
ing the  Stamp  Act  times,  by  suspending  him  from  his  office,  and  he 
keenly  felt  the  conduct  of  the  other  insurrectionary  leaders.  How- 
ever, only  the  Southern  counties  had  been  offensive  in  their  action, 
and  the  public  men  in  the  other  counties  had  not  been  drawn  into 
actual  rebellion.  The  Assembly  met  in  November.  Ashe  did  not 
attend  for  some  days  after  its  meeting,  and  John  Harvey  of  Per- 
quimans county  was  chosen  Speaker.  Ashe,  however,  entered 
actively  on  the  business  of  the  Assembly,  and  together  with  Fan- 
ning and  Robert  Howe  was  appointed  on  a  Committee  to  prepare 
an  address  to  his  Majesty  on  the  repeal  of  the  Stamp  Act.  This 
*Vol.  7,  p.  172.  fVol.  7,  p.  174.  JVol.  7,  p.  174. 


NORTH  CAROLINA 


address  was  manly  and  patriotic.  It  referred  to  the  action  of  the 
Colonists,  to  their  apprehensions,  to  the  burdens  "much  too  heavy 
for  us  to  bear,"  to  their  late  unhappy  situation,  and  expressed  joy 
and  thankfulness  at  the  action  of  the  King  and  Parliament  in  re- 
pealing the  Stamp  Act,  ''as  thereby  the  happiness  of  your  subjects 
is  secured  and  fixed  upon  the  true  basis  of  public  liberty;" 
throughout  it  all,  however,  there  were  expressions  of  love  and  loy- 
alty to  the  best  of  Kings,  and  a  declaration  of  "the  glory  and  hap- 
piness of  the  inhabitants  of  this  your  Province  of  North  Carolina 
to  look  upon  themselves  as  part  of  the  British  Empire."*  From 
Boston  to  Savannah  joy  and  loyalty  filled  the  atmosphere.  In  the 
ecstasy  of  the  moment,  the  Assembly,  ignoring  its  long  and  per- 
sistent denial  of  the  King's  prerogative  to  fix  the  seat  of  govern- 
ment at  New-Bern,  magnanimously  petitioned  the  King  to  locate 
it  there,  and  appropriated  ten  thousand  pounds  to  build  a  palace 
for  the  Governor  at  that  place. 

Ashe's  old  friend  Starkey,  the  Treasurer,  had  died  before  the 
previous  session  of  the  Assembly ;  and  a  dispute  had  arisen,  as  in 
former  years,  between  the  Assembly  and  the  Council  as  to  the  ex- 
clusive right  of  the  Assembly  to  nominate  the  Treasurer,  and  at 
that  session  the  vacancy  was  not  filled.  The  Governor  had,  how- 
ever, appointed  Sam  Swann  temporary  Treasurer;  and  now  the 
Legislature  was  to  elect  to  the  office.  The  Assembly  nominated 
Ashe;  the  Council,  insisting  on  its  rights,  nominated  Lewis  De 
Rosset.  For  a  time  neither  body  would  recede ;  but  eventually 
the  Council  agreed  itself  to  nominate  Ashe,  thinking  thus  to  save 
its  claim  to  share  in  the  nomination ;  and  he  became  Treasurer  of 
the  Southern  District. 

In  1768  the  Regulators  having  raised  a  riot  at  Hillsboro,  Gov- 
ernor Tryon  called  out  the  militia  of  Rowan  and  Mecklenburg 
Counties  to  overawe  them,  and  John  Ashe  accompanied  him  on 
that  expedition  as  Major-General.  Again  in  1771,  when  the  Regu- 
lators broke  up  the  Court  at  Hillsboro,  Governor  Tryon  deter- 
mined to  suppress  them  by  a  display  of  military  power.  The  Leg- 
islature had  made  no  provision  for  this  movement,  and  there  were 
*Vol.  7,  pp.  397-408. 


JOHN  ASHE  43 


no  funds  to  pay  the  expenses.  Montfort,  the  Treasurer  of  the 
Northern  District,  refused  to  advance  any  money;  but  Ashe,  the 
Treasurer  of  the  Southern  District,  not  only  suppHed  what  funds 
he  had,  but  issued  his  own  notes  to  pay  the  expenses.  As  the  re- 
sult of  Montfort's  action,  no  troops  were  raised  in  the  Northern 
section.  Again  was  Ashe  appointed  Major-General,  and  as  such 
he  participated  in  the  Battle  of  Alamance;  and  when,  after  the 
Regulators  had  been  dispersed  and  Tryon  had  received  his  ap- 
pointment as  Governor  of  New  York,  he  turned  over  the  command 
of  the  army  to  Ashe  and'  hastened  to  his  new  post. 

The  next  Assembly  met  Governor  Josiah  Martin  in  November, 
1772.  The  Assembly  in  1768  had  directed  the  Sherififs  not  to  col- 
lect a  certain  tax  of  three  shillings ;  and  at  this  session  it  proposed 
to  direct  the  Sherififs  not  to  collect  a  certain  tax  of  one  shilling. 
The  Governor  declared  that  this  would  be  a  fraud  and  dissolved 
the  House  before  it  could  place  the  resolution  on  its  journal.  Ashe 
was  a  member  of  the  House,  and,  as  Treasurer,  obeyed  its  will  in 
this  matter  and  refused  to  require  the  sheriffs  of  his  district  to 
collect  the  tax.  The  Governor  dissolved  the  Assembly,  and  there 
was  a  new  election.  When  the  Assembly  met  in  January,  1773, 
Harvey  was  chosen  Speaker  in  place  of  Caswell ;  and  by  a  com- 
bination between  Caswell's  friends  and  the  Northern  District,  Cas- 
well defeated  Ashe  for  Treasurer.  At  the  Assembly  that  met  in 
December,  1773,  a  standing  Committee  of  Correspondence  was 
appointed  to  communicate  with  the  other  Colonies,  and  Ashe  was 
one  of  its  members.  The  Governor  dissolved  that  Assembly  on 
March  28,  1774,  because  of  disagreements  over  the  court  law  and 
its  action  and  spirit  in  regard  to  Continental  affairs.  In  the  prog- 
ress of  events  the  Port  of  Boston  was  closed  that  spring,  and  in 
July  the  inhabitants  of  the  Cape  Fear  Counties  met  at  Wilming- 
ton and  issued  a  call  for  the  election  of  deputies  to  the  first  Pro- 
vincial Congress  :*  and  of  that  body  Ashe  was  a  member.  Writing 
on  September  i,  1774,  Governor  Martin  alludes  to  the  fact  that 
"the  Northern  Counties  were  then  controlled  by  Sam  Johnston 
and  that  the  Southern  Counties  were  supporting  John  Ashe ;  and 
*VoI.  9,  p.  1016. 


44  NORTH  CAROLINA 

that  these  counties,  usually  in  antagonism,  were  now  in  harmony, 
and  he  apprehended  every  embarrassment  from,  their  union." 
That  Fall,  Committees  of  Safety  began  to  be  formed  in  the  sev- 
eral counties,  and  Ashe  was  a  member  of  the  Committee  for  New 
Hanover.  He  realized  the  necessity  of  resolute  action,  and,  again 
gathering  his  friends  around  him,  he  led  the  way  for  the  people  to 
follow.  Having  met  the  situation  in  1765  and  1766  with  a  strong 
hand,  he  now  prepared  to  be  armed  and  ready  for  the  crisis  he 
saw  approaching.  He  had  long  been  Colonel  of  the  New  Hanover 
Regiment.  He  now  freed  himself  from  duties  to  the  Crown,  and 
declining  a  reappointment  tendered  him  by  Governor  Martin,* 
began  to  organize  troops  independently  of  the  Government.  On 
March  10,  1775,  Governor  Martin  wrote  :t  "It  is  rumored  that 
in  the  counties  of  Brunswick  and  New  Hanover,  the  people,  at 
the  instigation  of  some  of  the  leaders,  have  met  and  chosen  field 
officers  for  a  regiment;  and  that  Mr.  Robert  Howe,  formerly 
captain  of  Fort  Johnston,  is  training  some  people  in  the  former 
county  to  arms."  Elsewhere  the  Governor  reported  "that  Ashe 
had  declined  his  appointment  as  colonel  and  had  accepted  the  ap- 
pointment at  the  hands  of  the  people."  It  was  stated  by  survivors 
of  the  Revolution  that  he  was  the  first  person  in  North  Carolina 
to  receive  a  military  commission  from  the  people.  After  that 
time  independent  companies  began  to  be  formed  in  the  other 
counties. 

On  March  6th  the  New  Hanover  Committee  adopted  an  as- 
sociation that  :l  "We  do  most  solemnly  engage  by  the  most  sacred 
ties  of  honor,  virtue  and  love  of  country,"  etc.,  and  they  resolved 
to  "offer  this  paper  to  all  citizens  for  their  signatures."  There 
were  some  of  the  inhabitants  of  the  town  wavering,  and  Gov- 
ernor Martin  represented  to  the  Crown  that :  "Ashe  had,  at  the 
head  of  a  body  of  400  or  500  men,  menaced  the  people 
with  military  executions  if  they  did  not  immediately  subscribe 
the  association."  Without  doubt,  being  now  an  active  leader 
in  the  throes  of  a  revolution,  Ashe  used  every  influence  that  could 
be  exerted  to  infuse  zeal  among  the  people,  to  fix  the  wavering 
*Vol.  10,  p.  48.  tVoI.  9.  p.  1157.  tVol.  9,  p.  1 148. 


JOHN  ASHE  45 


and  to  overawe  those  who  were  disinclmed  to  cast  their  fortunes 
with  the  revolutionists.  He  was  stalwart,  bold  and  determined. 
With  him  were  his  kinsmen,  and  Harnett  and  Howe,  Moore  and 
LiUington;  unhappily  De  Rosset  and  Waddell,  leaders  in  1765, 
had  now  passed  away.  Harnett,  Ashe,  Howe  and  Abner  Nash 
were  particularly  marked  out  by  the  Governor  as  proper  objects 
of  proscription  because  "they  stand  foremost  among  the  patrons  of 
revolt  and  anarchy.''  * 

On  May  8th  the  express  with  the  news  of  the  Battle  of  Lex- 
ington reached  Wilmington;  intense  excitement  prevailed; 
and  Governor  Martin,  alarmed  by  the  organization  of  an  inde- 
pendent company  at  New-Bern  by  Abner  Nash  and  his  associates, 
fled  from  his  palace  and  sought  safety  in  Fort  Johnston,  reaching 
there  June  2nd.  From  there  he  began  to  communicate  with  the 
disaffected  in  the  interior,  and  he  planned  to  strengthen  the  fort 
and  garrison  it  with  more  troops.  In  the  meantime  John  Harvey 
had  died,  and  on  May  31st  Howe,  Harnett  and  Ashe  wrote  Sam 
Johnston  urging  that  another  Provincial  Congress  should  be  at 
once  held.f  On  June  12th  the  Committee  of  Safety  of  the  Cape 
Fear  counties  took  an  oath  of  secrecy,  and  a  week  later  they 
adopted  an  association  binding  themselves  "to  go  forth  and  sac- 
rifice their  lives  and  fortunes  to  secure  freedom  and  safety."  Three 
days  later,  on  June  23rd,  the  Mecklenburg  Resolves,  supplanting 
the  old  government  in  Mecklenburg  County  and  inaugurating 
an  independent  government  based  on  the  will  of  the  people,  were 
published  in  the  Cape  Fear  Mercury;  and  the  cry  for  independence 
from  the  interior  gave  strength  to  the  Cape  Fear  leaders.  J  Bla- 
den and  the  sea  coast  counties  "were  pursuing  the  example  of 
Mecklenburg." 

Ashe  determined  to  expel  the  Governor  from  North  Carolina 
soil  and  to  remove  the  cannon  from  Fort  Johnston  and  to  destroy 
the  fortifications ;  and  he  planned  by  means  of  fire-rafts  to  drive 
the  British  cruisers  from  the  harbor.  He  embodied  his  forces,  and 
on  July  i8th,  being  joined  by  detachments  from  Brunswick  and 
Bladen,  he  marched  to  Fort  Johnston  and  with  his  own  hand  ap- 

*Vol.  10,  p.  98.       tC.  R.  Vol.  9,  p.  1285.       %C.  R.  Vol.  10,  pp.  45,  48. 


46  NORTH  CAROLINA 

plied  the  torch  to  the  fort.  His  plan  to  drive  the  cruisers  from 
the  river  by  fire-rafts  was  not,  however,  carried  into  effect,*  and 
Governor  Martin  continued  on  board  his  shipping,  but  his  com- 
munication with  the  Loyalists  was  interrupted  and  very  uncertain. 
The  stimulus  of  this  action  aroused  and  nerved  the  patriots  in 
every  quarter  of  the  Province  and  the  Revolution  went  forward 
by  leaps  and  bounds.  A  month  later  the  third  Congress  met,  and 
it  invested  the  functions  of  government  in  a  Provincial  Commit- 
tee of  Safety.  Royal  rule  had  ceased  in  North  Carolina.  Provi- 
sion was  also  made  to  organize  military  forces.  Minute  men  were 
provided  for,  and  also  two  regiments  of  Continental  troops.  Ashe 
desired  the  command  of  the  first  of  these  regiments ;  but  his 
brother-in-law,  James  Moore,  who  had  greater  military  experi- 
ence, was  preferred  to  him,  receiving  a  majority  of  one  vote. 
Without  question  this  defeat  was  a  source  of  great  mortification. 
His  proud  spirit  quivered  with  disappointment.  But  he  knew  his 
duty  and  performed  it.  Mr.  George  Hooper  is  quoted  as  saying 
"that  he  could  never  forget  General  Ashe's  return  from  the  Con- 
vention of  Hillsboro  in  September,  1775.  He  was  in  a  state  of 
prodigious  excitement.  His  object  was  to  raise  a  regiment ;  and  he 
accomplished  it.  You  cannot  imagine  what  a  commotion  he  stirred 
up.  He  kindled  an  enthusiasm  in  New  Hanover  and  the  adjacent 
counties,  of  which  there  is  no  parallel  in  thetraditionsofthe  State. "f 
In  February,  1776,  the  Highlanders  and  Regulators  assembled 
at  Cross  Creek,  and  Colonel  Moore  marched  against  them,  along 
with  his  forces  being  a  company  of  Independent  Rangers  en- 
listed by  Ashe,  and  paid  a  bounty  by  him  out  of  his  own  purse ;  and 
he  fought  with  them  at  Moore's  Creek.  Immediately  after  that 
battle  the  Provincial  Congress  met  and  reorganized  the  militia, 
appointing  brigadier-generals  for  the  dififerent  districts.  Ashe 
was  appointed  to  command  in  the  Wilmington  District.  In  April 
and  May  the  British  began  to  gather  in  the  lower  Cape  Fear,  and 
the  militia  of  the  State  was  called  out  to  defend  Wilmington. 
The  command  of  that  army  was  with  General  Ashe,  and  the  force 
was  stated  to  number  over  9,000  men.    He  hemmed  in  the  British 

*Vol.  10,  pp.  142,  143. 

fA.  M.  Hooper's  Memoir,  University  Magazine,  Oct.,  1854. 


JOHN  ASHE  47 


forces,  until  finally  the.  fleet  sailed  away;  and,  the  danger  being 
passed,  in  August  he  disbanded  his  troops.  While  he  thus  com- 
manded the  army,  his  brother  was  President  of  the  Council. 

He  continued  in  active  service,  both  in  military  and  civil  af- 
fairs, being  constantly  a  member  of  the  Congresses,  and  later  of 
the  Assemblies,  and,  cooperating  with  the  other  leaders,  directing 
the  affairs  of  state.  In  December,  1776,  Caswell  being  elected 
Governor,  Ashe  was  appointed  Treasurer,  and  in  1777  he  was 
elected  by  the  Assembly,  and  he  held  that  post  until  1781. 

When  Washington  was  hard  pressed  in  the  Fall  of  1777,  the 
State  of  North  Carolina  offered  to  send  a  force  of  5,000  militia 
to  his  aid.  It  being  thought  that  this  force  would  be  sent.  Gov- 
ernor Caswell  on  the  7th  of  February  wrote  to  General  Ashe:* 
"If  the  militia  shall  be  ordered  to  march  to  the  aid  of  the  United 
States,  will  it  be  agreeable  to  you  to  command  them?  If  it  will, 
'twill  give  me  pleasure ;  otherwise,  I  think  it  may  be  necessary  for 
me  to  go  with  them."  General  Ashe,  in  reply,  said  that  while  in- 
disposed to  the  command,  yet  after  the  next  session,  if  it 
should  be  not  "expedient  for  Governor  Caswell  to  go,  and  should 
it  then  be  offered,  I  may  perhaps  accept  it."f  That  detachment 
was  not  raised;  but  in  October  a  detachment  of  5,000  was  to  be 
sent  to  the  South,  and  Governor  Caswell  wrote  to  General  Ashe  :| 
"I  am  now  apprehensive  I  shall  not  go,  and  cannot  think  of  offer- 
ing that  appointment  to  any  other  gentleman  than  yourself.  Let 
me  entreat  you  to  accept  it.  .  .  .  This  request  I  make  to  you 
not  only  from  my  own  inclination  that  you  should  have  this  com- 
mand, but  also  on  a  full  conviction  that  the  troops  will  more 
readily  turn  out;  indeed,  I  have  engaged  to  some  of  the  officers 
who  have  turned  out  here  that  either  you  or  myself  would  com- 
mand them.  ...  If  you  go,  I  will  give  every  assistance  to  your 
treasury  office  that  I  possibly  can." 

It  was  arranged  that  Ashe  should  accept  the  commission  of 
major-general  and  undertake  this  command,  the  commission  being 
sent  him  on  the  i8th  of  November,  i778,§  and  Governor  Caswell- 
agreeing  to  perform  his  duties  as  treasurer  in  his  absence.    Orders 


*Vol.  13,  p.  30.  tVol.  13,  p.  55- 

tVol.  13,  p.  256.  §Vol.  13,  p.  289. 


48  NORTH  CAROLINA 

were  issued  at  once  for  detachments  of  militia  to  be  drafted  and  as- 
sembled at  Elizabethtown.  The  method  of  raising  militia  troops 
all  during  the  war  was  to  apportion  about  fifty  to  each  county,  and 
each  county  app>ortioned  that  number  among  the  various  com- 
panies. The  result  was  that  while  a  regiment  was  raised  from  each 
district,  neither  the  privates  nor  the  officers  of  the  regiment  had 
any  previous  acquaintance,  but  the  organization  was  a  medley 
and  mixture,  without  any  element  of  confidence  or  cohesive 
strength.  General  Rutherford's  brigade  being  ordered  out, 
quickly  responded ;  but  the  detachments  from  the  other  sections 
of  the  State  were  slow  in  assembling.  At  length,  however,  regi- 
ments were  collected  from  the  New-Bern  District,  from  those  of 
Edenton,  Halifax  and  Wilmington.  Another  was  commanded  by 
Colonel  Perkins.  Governor  Caswell  remained  at  Kinston,  urging 
the  troops  forward.  On  December  8th  he  wrote  to  General  Lin- 
coln, from  Kinston :  "At  length  the  troops  from  the  Northern 
and  Eastern  Districts  of  this  State  have  crossed  the  river  at  this 
place.  The  whole,  I  expect,  will  join  General  Ashe  at  Elizabeth- 
town  six  days  hence ;  from  whence  they  will  be  able  to  reach 
Charleston  in  about  a  fortnight.  I  am  much  concerned  to  know 
the  greater  number  of  the  militia  who  have  firearms  have  such 
as  are  by  no  means  fit  for  service,  and  many  of  them  have  no 
arms  at  all.  I  flatter  myself,  notwithstanding  Governor  Lowndes's 
information  to  me,  that  arms  will  be  furnished  them." 

It  was  expected  that  arms  would  be  furnished  at  Charleston  to 
this  North  Carolina  detachment ;  but  General  Rutherford's  brig- 
ade, which  was  in  advance,  got  all  the  arms  that  could  be  supplied. 

On  December  29th,  Caswell  wrote  to  Ashe,  who  was  still  de- 
tained at  Elizabethtown,  that  militia  was  hourly  expected  at  Kins- 
ton ;  that  he  was  concerned  to  learn  that  the  troops  were  so  far 
short  of  the  number  ordered  out,  and  he  added  :  "The  deficiency  in 
arms  and  accoutrements  I  am  sensible  of,  and  equally  concerned 
at,  but  it  seems  that  these  deficiencies  cannot  be  removed  here. 
I  was  led  to  believe  that  he  (General  Lincoln)  thought  our  people 
would  obtain  arms  at  Charleston,  and  I  sincerely  hope  they  will." 

When  the  Legislature  met  in  January,  the  Governor  reported 


JOHN  ASHE  49 


to  that  body  that  of  the  5,000  troops  called  out,  he  was  fearful 
not  more  than  half  had  marched,  and  those  badly  armed. 

Lincoln's  forces  were  posted  along  the  Savannah  River,  and 
when  Ashe  reached  that  vicinity  he  was  ordered  to  proceed  im- 
mediately to  Augusta  and  to  cross  the  river  and  to  take  post  at 
Briar  Creek,  and  then  himself  to  return  to  Lincoln's  camp  for  a 
council  of  war.*  He  reached  Briar  Creek  on  the  27th  of  Febru- 
ary, and  in  obedience  to  instructions  left  his  command  in  charge 
of  General  Bryan  and  attended  the  council,  at  which  it  was  agreed 
that  he  should  cross  Briar  Creek  and  strike  the  enemy  at  their 
first  post  down  the  river,  and  clear  the  way  for  Rutherford  to 
cross.  He  reached  his  camp  at  noon  on  March  2d.  It  was  in  the 
depths  of  a  narrow  swamp,  nearly  forty  miles  long,  lying  between 
the  creek  and  the  river,  and  a  mile  or  so  from  their  juncture. 
Ashe  had  represented  to  General  Lincoln  its  unfavorable  location, 
admitting  of  no  escape  from  an  attack  in  the  rear  by  a  superior 
force.  There  were  but  few  horsemen  with  the  command;  but 
General  Bryan  had  established  a  line  of  heavy  pickets  to  the  rear 
and  had  sent  the  Light  Horse  to  obtain  information.  At  3  o'clock, 
on  the  afternoon  of  the  3d,  information  was  received  that  the  enemy 
were  approaching,  about  eight  miles  above.  "We  immediately 
beat  to  arms,  formed  the  troops  into  two  lines,  and  served  them 
with  cartridges,  which  they  could  not  prudently  have  been  served 
with  sooner,  as  they  had  several  times  received  cartridges  which 
had  been  destroyed  and  lost  for  want  of  cartouch  boxes.  We 
marched  out  to  meet  the  enemy — some  carrying  their  cartridges 
under  their  arms,  others  in  the  bosoms  of  their  shirts,  and  some 
tied  up  in  the  corners  of  their  hunting  shirts."  A  few  Georgia 
Continentals  and  Colonel  Perkins's  Regiment,  on  the  right  of  the 
first  line,  engaged  the  enemy.  The  Halifax  Regiment,  on  the  left 
of  the  second  line,  broke  and  took  to  flight.  The  Wilmington  and 
New-Bern  Regiments,  after  firing  two  or  three  rounds,  followed 
their  example.  The  Edenton  Regiment  continued  for  two  or 
three  discharges  longer,  when  they  gave  way,  just  as  Colonel 
Lytle  with  his  light  infantry  and  a  brass  piece  came  up.  He  saw 
*VoI.  13,  pp.  51,  39- 


50  NORTH  CAROLINA 

the  impossibility  of  rallying  the  troops,  and  he  followed  in  rear 
of  the  fugitives,  reserving  his  fire." 

Ashe,  who  had  been  in  the  rear  of  Colonel  Perkins's  Regiment 
and  the  Georgians  on  the  first  line,  hurried  to  check  the  fugitives, 
but  although  assisted  by  Majors  Blount,  Doherty,  Colonel  Perkins 
and  other  commanding  officers,  he  was  unable  to  rally  them.  They 
made  their  way  to  the  river,  where  most  of  them  crossed,  while 
others  turned  up  the  swamp  and  reached  Augusta.  The  loss  was 
ten  or  twelve  killed,  about  the  same  number  drowned,  some 
missing;  but  a  large  majority  threw  away  their  arms  in  their 
flight.  There  were  about  600  in  the  camp  at  Briar  Creek,  and  they 
were  assailed  by  800  British  Regulars,  and  their  defeat  was  inev- 
itable. Apparently  General  Lincoln  erred  in  placing  this  force 
at  the  bottom  of  a  bag  from  which  there  was  no  avenue  of  escape, 
except  by  dispersing  through  the  swamps.  A  year  later  he  re- 
peated this  mistake  at  Charleston,  and  himself  was  forced  to  sur- 
render his  entire  command.  General  Ashe  immediately  asked  for 
a  Court  of  Inquiry,  which,  after  the  examination  of  many  wit- 
nesses, decided  :*  "That  General  Ashe  did  not  take  all  the  neces- 
sary precautions  which  he  ought  to  have  done  to  secure  his  camp, 
and  to  obtain  timely  intelligence  of  the  movements  and  approach 
of  the  enemy ;  but  they  entirely  acquitted  him  of  every  imputation 
of  a  want  of  personal  courage,  and  thought  that  he  remained  in 
the  field  as  long  as  prudence  and  duty  required."  Ashe  himself 
thought  that  he  did  everything  in  his  power  to  obtain  timely  in- 
telligence of  the  movements  of  the  enemy ;  still  this  inglorious 
termination  of  his  expedition  weighed  heavily  upon  him.  Excuses 
that  even  form  a  reasonable  justification  do  not  relieve  the  sting 
of  defeat.  The  period  for  which  his  men  were  enlisted  was  to  ex- 
pire on  April  loth.  They  would  remain  no  longer ;  and  somewhat 
later  General  Ashe  himself  returned  to  his  home,  keenly  feeling 
the  misfortune  that  had  befallen  his  command.  He  resumed  his 
duties  as  Treasurer,  but  General  Lillington  having  been  appointed 
Brigadier-General  of  his  district  on  February  4,  1779,  he  had  no 
subsequent  military  command. 

*MouItrie's  Memoirs,  University  Magazine,  Oct.,  1854. 


JOHN  ASHE  SI 


In  the  last  days  of  January,  1781,  Major  Craig  took  possession 
of  Wilmington,  and  from  that  time  onward  his  Tory  bands  rav- 
aged the  country,  making  captures  of  such  Whigs  as  they  could 
find.  "Two  of  the  General's  sons,  having  been  taken,  were  con- 
fined on  a  prison-ship  and  sentenced  to  be  shot.  One  was  Samuel 
Ashe  a  Captain  in  the  Continental  Line,  the  other  his  youngest 
son,  William.  A  day  was  fixed  for  the  execution,  and  it  would 
have  taken  place  if  Major  Craig  had  not  received  authentic  in- 
formation from  the  Whig  camp  that  a  dreadful  retaliation  was  in 
their  power."  The  General  himself  took  refuge  in  the  recesses 
of  Burgaw  swamp.  He  was  betrayed,  and  a  party  of  dra- 
goons was  dispatched  to  capture  him.  Attempting  to  escape, 
he  was  shot  in  the  leg  and  carried  a  prisoner  to  Wilmington. 
While  in  confinement  he  contracted  the  smallpox;  but  when 
convalescent  was  parolled  and  returned  to  his  home,  where  he 
at  once  made  preparations  to  remove  his  family  to  the  back 
country.* 

In  October  he  began  this  journey,  and  with  his  family  reached 
the  residence  of  Colonel  John  Sampson,  in  Sampson  County. 
There  suddenly  the  end  came.  Taken  with  a  paroxysm  of  pain 
at  12  o'clock  at  night,  he  expired  before  the  dawn  of  day. 

Bright  and  glorious  had  been  his  years  of  manhood,  but  dis- 
appointment, suffering  and  calamity  marked  his  exit  from  the 
world.  The  first  in  North  Carolina  to  begin  the  Revolution,  with 
arms  in  his  hands,  he  passed  away  before  Cornwallis's  surrender, 
and  without  a  view  of  the  promised  land  of  independence,  and 
ignorant  of  the  glorious  victory  which  was  then  to  reward  and 
rejoice  the  patriots  who  survived  him. 

Early  in  life  General  Ashe  had  married  his  cousin,  Rebecca 
Moore,  the  sister  of  Judge  Maurice  Moore  and  of  General  James 
Moore.  His  eldest  son,  John,  early  took  arms  in  the  Revolution ; 
his  son.  Captain  Samuel  Ashe,  commanded  a  troop  of  Light 
Horse,  serving  in  New  York  and  Pennsylvania ;  William  was  lost 
at  sea  on  board  of  a  privateer,  and  A'Court  died  in 
his  youth.  His  daughter  Mary,  in  1777,  married  Colonel  William 
*University  Magazine,  Oct.,  1854. 


52  NORTH  CAROLINA 

Alston,  and  was  the  mother  of  Governor  Joseph  Alston,  of  South 
Carolina,  who  married  the  ill-fated  Theodosia  Burr.  Eliza  Maria 
married  William  H.  Hill,  and  was  the  mother  of  Joseph  Alston 
Hill.  Harriet  married  Dr.  Laspeyre.  None  of  his  sons  left  issue, 
and  none  of  his  descendants  bear  his  name. 

Speaking  of  his  powers  of  oratory,  Mr.  George  Hooper  is 
quoted  as  saying:  "He  struck  the  chords  of  passion  with  a  master 
hand.  His  words  roused  the  soul  like  the  roll  of  the  drum  or  the 
roar  of  artillery  at  the  commencement  of  an  action.  Every  breast 
heaved,  as  if  with  the  sentiment  of  the  Athenian  orator :  'Let  us 
away !  Let  us  arm !  Let  us  march  against  Philip  ! '  "  Mr.  Sam 
Strudwick,  who  had  "mingled  in  the  fashionable  and  political 
circles  of  the  great  metropolis  of  England,  speaking  of  General 
Ashe,  declared  emphatically  that  there  were  not  in  the  city  of 
London  four  men  superior  in  intellect  to  John  Ashe." 

But  his  chief  title  to  fame  rests  neither  on  his  powers  of  oratory 
nor  his  intellectual  capacity,  but  rather  on  his  resolute  patriotism 
and  bold  leadership  in  starting  the  ball  of  revolution  that  brought 
independence  to  his  country. 

5.  A.  Ashe. 


JOHN  L.  BAILEY 


[HE  subject  of  this  sketch  was  a  jurist  of  un- 
blemished reputation  and  held  in  the  highest 
personal  esteem  throughout  the  State  during  the 
period  of  his  activity.  He  was  the  son  of 
Gabriel  Bailey,  who  resided  in  Pasquotank  Coun- 
ty, where  the  family  had  long  been  settled,  and 
he  was  born  on  August  13,  1795.  After  his  preliminary  educa- 
tion he  entered  the  University  at  Chapel  Hill,  where  his  scholastic 
education  was  completed,  and  then  studied  law  under  Hon.  James 
Iredell,  at  Edenton.  Governor  Iredell  was  one  of  the  most  ac- 
complished lawyers,  as  he  was  one  of  the  strongest  and  most  su- 
perior in  intellectual  endowments  of  the  public  men  of  the  State, 
and  this  association  with  that  distinguished  and  thorough  lawyer 
and  gentleman  had  a  most  excellent  effect  on  the  young  law 
student. 

Having  received  his  license,  he  returned  to  Pasquotank  and 
established  himself  as  a  lawyer  in  Elizabeth  City ;  but  his  residence 
in  Chowan  had  not  been  without  a  deeper  effect  on  his  life,  and  on 
the  26th  of  June,  1821,  he  was  happily  united  in  marriage  to  Miss 
Priscilla  Brownrigg  of  that  county,  a  daughter  of  Thomas  Brown- 
rigg,  who  was  a  grandson  on  his  mother's  side  of  Colonel  Benja- 
min Hill,  and  whose  father,  Richard  Brownrigg,  appears  to  have 
come  from  Ireland  many  years  before  the  Revolution  and  to  have 
had  considerable  possessions  in  Ireland  and  in  Jamaica,  as  well 


54  NORTH  CAROLINA 

as  in  Chowan  County.  Easily  taking  his  place  among  cultured 
gentlemen  of  that  day  in  Elizabeth  City,  in  1824  Mr.  Bailey  was 
elected  to  represent  Pasquotank  County  in  the  House  of  Commons 
and  was  elected  to  the  Senate  in  1827  and  1828.  Again  in  1832 
he  was  a  member  of  the  Senate,  and  now  his  reputation  as  a  man 
of  fine  judgment  and  as  a  Constitutional  lawyer  was  so  well  es- 
tablished that  when  delegates  were  chosen  to  represent  Pasquo- 
tank in  the  Convention  of  1835,  he  was  selected  to  be  a  member 
of  that  body.  In  the  Convention  he  voted  to  amend  the  religious 
tests  for  office,  admitting  Roman  Catholics,  who  had  formerly 
been  excluded.  He  voted  against  the  alteration  in  the  Constitu- 
tion providing  for  biennial  elections  of  the  General  Assembly,  but 
he  voted  to  submit  all  of  the  amendments  which  had  been  agreed 
to  by  the  Convention  to  the  people,  while  Mr.  Macon,  Judge  Ruffin, 
Mr.  Edwards,  and  others  who  like  himself  were  Conservatives, 
voted  against  that  proposition.  By  the  first  General  Assembly 
held  under  the  amended  Constitution  he  was  elected  a  Judge  of 
the  Superior  Court,  a  position  for  which  he  was  admirably  quali- 
fied by  his  character,  his  personal  traits  and  his  judicial  attain- 
ments. For  more  than  a  quarter  of  a  century  he  rode  the  circuits 
of  the  State,  holding  court  many  times  in  every  county  in  North 
Carolina.  He  wore  well  on  the  bench.  Every  year  added  to  his 
reputation  and  to  the  esteem  in  which  he  was  held.  The  people 
in  every  part  of  the  State  became  familiar  with  his  personality, 
and  because  of  his  fine  carriage  and  excellence  he  attained  a  high 
place  in  the  popular  regard.  He  continued  on  the  bench  until 
1863,  when  circumstances  led  him  to  resign  his  office,  and  after- 
wards he  made  his  home  in  Asheville,  where  he  resumed  the  prac- 
tice of  the  law  and  became  as  highly  esteemed  in  that  community 
as  he  had  been  in  his  old  home. 

In  the  salubrious  climate  of  that  mountain  region  he  regained 
his  health  and  attained  a  ripe  old  age.  He  was  survived  by  his 
sons,  Thomas  B.  Bailey  and  Hon.  William  H.  Bailey,  formerly 
of  Charlotte,  but  later  in  life  a  resident  of  Texas,  but  his  amiable 
wife  preceded  him  to  the  grave  by  a  few  years.  He  died  at  Ashe- 
ville on  June  30,  1877,  in  the  82nd  year  of  his  age.    S.  A.  Ashe. 


r-'?  bz^£:  c  m^/--'^-  a.3~c  N^y 


ChgS.L   ^^^  /■Lapps':   F'ubrsi 


JAMES  CRAIG   BRASWELL 

jAMES  CRAIG  BRASWELL,  distingnished  as 
a  banker  and  business  man,  was  born  near 
Battleboro,  on  the  17th  day  of  August,  1868. 
He  is  the  youngest  son  Hving  of  Thomas  P. 
Braswell  and  Emily  StalHngs  Braswell,  who 
are  still  living  at  the  home  in  which  James 
Craig  Braswell  was  born. 

Thomas  P.  Braswell,  the  father  of  James  Craig,  is  of  Scotch- 
Irish  descent,  and  the  sterling  honesty  of  the  one  and  the  wit  of 
the  other  of  these  two  great  people  are  concentered  in  him.  He  is 
one  of  the  most  progressive  men  in  Nash  County  and  one  of  her 
most  honored  citizens.  He  was  born  in  Edgecombe  County  in 
the  year  1833,  and  during  his  youth  and  early  manhood  lived  in 
Edgecombe  County,  where  he  married  Emily  Stallings.and  in  1866 
moved  to  his  present  home  in  Nash  County. 

Mr.  T.  P.  Braswell's  early  educational  advantages  were  limited, 
but  by  application,  constant  reading,  and  extensive  travelling  there 
are  few  better  informed  men  of  to-day ;  being  denied  many  advan- 
tages, yet  his  innate  manhood  soon  asserted  itself,  and  he  forged 
his  way  to  the  front,  and  by  his  honesty  of  purpose,  indomitable 
will-power,  and  sound  judgment  he  has  won  a  high  place  in  the 
esteem  of  his  fellow-men.  He  has  filled  every  public  position 
which  he  has  ever  sought,  and  indeed  some  have  been  thrust  upon 
him  without  his  desire,  and  he  has  declined  many,  preferring  the 


S6  NORTH  CAROLINA 

quiet  of  his  splendid  home  to  the  cares  of  public  life.  He  has  been 
constable,  deputy-sheriff,  Commissioner  of  his  county,  Chairman 
of  the  Democratic  Executive  Committee,  and  member  of  the  Leg- 
islature, which  last  position  he  declined  to  accept  again,  and 
finally  retired  from  public  life. 

He  is  to-day  the  largest  planter  and  land-owner  of  Nash  County, 
and  is  extensively  engaged  in  stock-raising,  owning  one  of  the 
finest  herds  of  Jersey  cattle  in  the  State.  In  addition  to  his  farm- 
ing interests,  he  is  largely  engaged  in  other  business.  He  is  the 
senior  member  of  the  large  mercantile  firm  at  Battleboro,  N.  C,  of 
T.  P.  Braswell  &  Son,  which  business  is  conducted  by  his  oldest 
son,  M.  C.  Braswell,  of  whom  more  will  be  said  later.  He  is  a 
large  owner  of  real  estate  in  Rocky  Mount,  Battleboro,  Nash  and 
Edgecombe  Counties.  He  is  a  stockholder  in  all  the  large  corpo- 
rations organized  in  and  around  Rocky  Mount  and  Battleboro  for 
the  past  few  years,  and  indeed  the  organization  of  many  of  them 
can  be  attributed  to  him ;  for  instance.  Planters'  Bank,  which  bank 
has  gained  a  State  reputation,  although  only  six  years  old. 

Mr.  T.  P.  Braswell  realized,  as  no  man  can  except  one  similarly 
circumstanced,  the  advantage  of  thorough  education,  and  he  has 
spared  no  effort  to  give  his  children  every  advantage  which  edu- 
cation can  bestow,  and  well  have  they  repaid  his  efforts. 

M.  C.  Braswell,  his  oldest  son,  after  leaving  the  University  was 
graduated  from  a  business  college,  and  has  taken  the  very  fore- 
front of  business  enterprises,  and  is  himself  an  extensive  planter. 
Indeed  he  is  one  of  the  safest  and  foremost  business  men  of  his 
entire  section. 

His  second  son,  Dr.  R.  M.  Braswell,  was  a  student  of  the  Uni- 
versity and  graduated  from  the  Maryland  University,  and  is  to- 
day one  of  the  leading  physicians  of  Eastern  North  Carolina.  He, 
too,  is  a  large  planter  and  extensively  engaged  in  other  business 
enterprises,  having  been  instrumental  in  organizing  and  carrying 
on  much  of  the  business  in  and  about  Rocky  Mount,  and  is  espe- 
cially noted  for  being  one  of  the  most  open  and  candid  men  who 
ever  lived  in  our  midst.  No  one  ever  heard  it  said  of  him  that  his 
position  on  any  question  was  doubtful  or  deceptive.    He  is  a  use- 


JAMES  CRAIG  BRASWELL  57 

ful  man  to  society,  for  being  so  open  and  candid  himself,  no  Dr. 
Jekyl  and  Mr.  Hyde  can  live  near  him  without  the  Mr.  Hyde  being 
exposed. 

Reafed  by  a  loving  Christian  mother,  whose  influence  is  so 
deeply  impressed  on  him,  and  benefited  by  the  example  of  the 
trio  above  referred  to,  the  subject  of  this  sketch  came  upon  the 
stage  of  life. 

He  was  prepared  for  college  at  Horner's  Military  School  at  Ox- 
ford, N.  C,  and  was  graduated  from  the  University  of  North 
Carolina  in  the  summer  of  1890. 

During  his  boyhood  days  he  was  taught  by  his  parents  that  it 
was  honorable  to  db  manual  labor,  and  when  at  home  for  his 
vacation  he  was  deprived  of  no  pleasure,  but  his  duties  must  come 
first.  He  took  part  in  his  father's  business  in  every  way,  and  was 
educated  in  the  arts  of  all  farm  work. 

As  soon  as  he  left  college  he  sought  the  commercial  field,  and 
for  a  short  time  was  connected  with  Dun's  Mercantile  Agency 
at  Winston,  N.  C.  Remaining  there  for  a  short  time,  he  moved 
to  Rocky  Mount  in  1891,  and  as  the  town  was  just  organizing 
large  and  extensive  tobacco  factories  and  warehouses,  he  em- 
barked in  the  tobacco  business  and  commenced  the  tobacco  trade 
in  co-partnership  with  his  father  under  the  firm  name  of  J.  C. 
Braswell  &  Co.,  which  has  since  been  incorporated.  From  the 
year  1891  to  1900  Mr.  Braswell  was  a  quiet  worker  in  this  busi- 
ness, laying  the  foundation  of  the  active  business  which  was  soon 
to  follow. 

On  the  I2th  of  June,  1901,  he  was  happily  married  to  Miss 
Lillian  Grizelle  Burton  of  Durham,  N.  C,  and  his  charming  wife 
has  made  his  home  life  all  that  the  most  exacting  could  ask.  She 
is  the  granddaughter  of  the  late  Rev.  Alex.  Walker  and  the 
daughter  of  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Robert  C.  Burton,  and  inherited  both 
on  the  paternal  and  maternal  lines  those  admirable  traits  that 
adorn  her  character  and  have  made  her  justly  esteemed  as  one  of 
the  loveliest  of  her  sex.  Mr.  Braswell  has  since  then  built  and 
moved  into  one  of  the  handsomest  homes  in  Eastern  North 
Carolina. 


58  NORTH  CAROLINA 

During  the  past  few  years  especially  Mr.  Braswell's  fine  char- 
acter has  become  more  manifest  and  more  thoroughly  recognized, 
and  his  worth  is  appreciated  by  all  with  whom  he  has  come  in 
contact. 

By  his  unquestioned  honesty,  by  his  never-failing  energy,  by 
his  absolute  fairness,  by  his  determination  to  get  what  belongs  to 
him,  and  to  be  just  as  sure  that  he  gets  nothing  that  is  not  his, 
by  a  strict  adherence  to  his  motto,  "Live  within  your  income,  be 
thorough  and  exact  in  business,  avoid  evil  things  and  men,  and 
have  your  eyes  open  to  every  opportunity,"  he  has  won  the  confi- 
dence and  esteem  of  all  men  with  whom  he  has  come  in  contact; 
and  though  yet  a  young  man,  he  is  to-day  president  of  the  follow- 
ing corporations :  Planters'  Bank  of  Rocky  Mount,  Rocky  Mount 
Sash  and  Blind  Company,  Rocky  Mount  Hosiery  Company,  J.  C. 
Braswell  Tobacco  Company,  the  Chamber  of  Commerce,  the  Mari- 
gold Heights  Land  Company,  Secretary  of  the  Planters'  Cotton 
Seed  Oil  Company,  Director  of  the  Rocky  Mount  Storage  Ware- 
house Company,  Wilkinson  Bullock  &  Company  Insurance  and 
Loan  Office,  the  Rocky  Mount  Brick  Company,  and  he  is  Vice- 
President  of  the  Rocky  Mount  Savings  &  Trust  Company.  He  is 
also  one  of  the  Commissioners  of  the  town  of  Rocky  Mount,  and 
a  member  of  the  Board  of  Graded  School  Trustees,  and  Vice- 
President  of  the  North  Carolina  Bankers'  Association. 

These  positions  of  trust  to  which  he  has  been  called  by  his  as- 
sociates fully  attest  the  confidence  and  esteem  in  which  he  is  held. 

Adding  him  to  the  trio  above  described,  it  may  be  said  that 
they  form  one  of  the  most  honorable  families  within  the  limits  of 
that  part  of  the  State.  They  are  at  all  times  in  the  closest  touch 
with  each  other.  They  are  all  men  of  great  public  enterprise, 
fully  abreast  with  the  times,  not  afraid  to  venture,  with  plenty  of 
means  to  back  any  enterprises  on  which  they  may  embark,  and 
last  but  not  least,  are  always  together.  So  it  is  not  difficult  to 
understand  that  when  they  venture  others  are  ready  to  follow. 

B.  H.  Bunn. 


l^^d-^il£^ 


JESSE  MOORE  BUNDY 


'  ESSE  MOORE  BUNDY,  a  well  known  and 
greatly  esteemed  citizen  of  Atlantic  City,  N. 
J.,  was  born  in  Deep  River  neighborhood, 
Guilford  County,  North  Carolina,  on  the  27th 
of  March,  1837.  His  parents,  John  and  Mary 
Moore  Bundy,  were  members  of  the  Society  of 
Friends  and  were  people  of  sterling  worth  and  strict  integrity. 
John  Bundy  was  quiet  and  unassuming  in  his  manner,  but  of  act- 
ive mind  and  sound  business  ability.  He  was  of  Irish  descent,  his 
father  being  a  native  of  Ireland.  He  was  born  in  1803  and  died 
in  1885.  His  occupation  was  that  of  farming.  His  mother,  too, 
was  a  strong,  lovable  character,  and  to  her  and  her  teaching  of 
the  truths  of  the  Bible  her  son  ascribes  much  of  his  success  in  life. 
Thus  Jesse  M.  Bundy  received  his  early  impressions  of  life  and 
his  preparation  for  its  duties  in  that  best  of  all  training  schools — 
a  well  ordered  home  upon  a  well  managed  farm.  He  grew  up 
strong  and  healthy  in  mind  and  body,  assisting  in  the  various 
kinds  of  work  which  at  that  time  more  than  in  our  own  included 
many  pursuits,  as  that  of  blacksmith,  carpenter,  mason,  etc.  This 
developed  in  the  boy  a  fondness  for  any  kind  of  mechanical  work 
and  made  him  acquainted  with  the  requirements  of  various  oc- 
cupations. In  after  life  these  qualifications  have  rendered  him 
capable  of  doing  the  work  of  four  or  five  men  in  several  positions 
■which  he  has  been  called  to  assume,  notably  as  Superintendent  of 


6o  NORTH  CAROLINA 

Guilford  College  during  its  inception  when  new  buildings  were 
being  erected,  brick  made,  lumber  secured,  and  many  men  under 
his  sole  management. 

As  a  boy  he  attended  the  public  schools  of  the  day,  and  later 
entered  New  Garden  Boarding  School — now  Guilford  College. 
While  there  his  favorite  studies  were  natural  philosophy,  physics, 
and  kindred  subjects. 

During  his  boyhood  his  father  removed  to  Indiana  and  settled 
at  Monrovia.  There  for  a  time  Jesse  pursued  farming  as  his  oc- 
cupation. After  attaining  his  majority  he  established  and  oper- 
ated a  successful  carriage  manufactory,  thus  exercising  the  gift 
which  had  shown  itself  from  his  tenth  year — of  handling  tools 
and  serving  mankind  through  his  knowledge  of  mechanics. 

On  the  27th  of  October,  1859,  he  married  Mary  Jane  Copeland, 
of  Rich  Square,  North  Carolina,  with  whom  he  became  acquainted 
while  they  were  both  students  at  Friends'  Boarding  School.  After 
his  marriage  he  remained  at  Rich  Square  for  six  months  and  en- 
gaged in  teaching.  In  the  Spring  of  i860,  with  his  wife,  he  re- 
turned to  Indiana  and  settled  at  Monrovia,  which  became  their 
home  for  eighteen  years,  engaging  in  manufacturing  as  before. 
During  those  years  three  children  were  born,  two  of  whom  died 
in  infancy.  The  surviving  child,  a  daughter,  Anna  Moore,  was 
married  in  1892  to  Rev.  John  B.  Jacobs,  who  only  a  few  months 
after  their  marriage  was  drowned  while  bathing  in  a  river.  Anna 
and  her  little  daughter  Pearl  make  their  home  with  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
Bundy  at  Atlantic  City,  gladdening  the  hearts  of  their  parents  as 
the  shadows  lengthen  in  their  lives. 

In  1874  Jesse  Bundy  removed  to  Rich  Square,  North  Carolina ; 
and  in  1878  he  and  Mrs.  Bundy  became  Superintendent  and  Ma- 
tron of  New  Garden  Boarding  School.  They  remained  in  this 
position  for  seven  years.  These  were  the  years  of  transition  from 
a  boarding  school  to  a  college,  and  it  would  have  been  almost  im- 
possible to  find  a  man  who  so  thoroughly  combined  the  character- 
istics needed  by  the  occupant  of  this  position  as  did  Mr.  Bundy; 
while  his  wife  was  most  admirably  fitted  to  manage  the  large  and 
diverse  household.     Jesse  Bundy  seemed  equally  at  home  in  the 


JESSE  MOORE  BUNDY  6i 

Faculty  meeting,  or  with  the  student  body,  with  the  carpenters, 
the  masons,  the  brick-makers ;  and  by  his  quiet  dignity  and  genu- 
ine sympathy  endeared  himself  to  all  who  worked  with  him,  from 
college  president  to  the  boy  who  carried  water  for  the  workmen. 

Since  his  residence  at  Guilford  he  has  been  engaged  in  vari- 
ous pursuits  in  Indiana,  Chattanooga,  Tenn.,  Philadelphia,  New 
York.  In  the  latter  State  he  had  charge  of  a  large  hotel  at  Colum- 
bia White  Sulphur  Springs.  For  several  years  past  Mr.  and 
Mrs.  Bundy  have  made  their  home  in  Atlantic  City.  At  first  in 
rented  property  they  conducted  a  charming  home-like  hotel,  and 
now  in  their  own  new  commodious  and  thoroughly  up-to-date 
hotel.  The  Archdale,  they  entertain  in  such  a  manner  that  guests 
find  every  convenience  of  hotel  life  added  to  the  most  cordial, 
friendly  and  sympathetic  association  from  those  in  charge.  It  is 
indeed  an  ideal  resort. 

Jesse  M.  Bundy  has  always  remained  a  Friend  and  has  for 
many  years  been  an  elder  in  the  church.  His  life  is  full  of  en- 
couragement and  has  been  spent  in  whatever  locality  his  lot  has 
been  cast  in  the  cause  of  truth  and  righteousness.  His  is  the  kind 
of  life  which  makes,  and  will  continue  to  make,  our  nation  great. 
God-fearing,  honest,  upright  in  every  particular.  In  politics  he 
has  always  been  Republican,  but  never  a  partisan.  He  is  well 
known  in  those  sections  in  which  he  has  resided,  and  in  every  place 
he  is  held  not  only  in  esteem,  but  in  affection. 

L.  L.  Hobbs. 


BENJAMIN    HICKMAN    BUNN 

fENJAMIN  HICKMAN  BUNN,  distinguished 
as  a  lawyer  and  public  man,  was  born  in  Nash 
County  on  the  19th  of  October,  1844,  and  has 
continued  to  reside  in  his  native  county  all 
through  life.  His  ancestor,  Benjamin  Bunn, 
and  his  brother,  coming  from  London  in  Colo- 
nial days,  first  settled  in  Virginia  and  then  removed  to  Edge- 
combe County,  North  Carolina,  locating  in  the  section  which  was 
later  formed  into  Nash  County.  The  earliest  public  service  re- 
corded of  the  family  was  in  the  Spring  of  1776,  when  Sir  Peter 
Parker's  fleet  lay  in  the  Cape  Fear  River  and  ten  thousand  North 
Carolinians  stood  ready  under  General  Ashe  to  repel  the  threat- 
ened invasion,  among  them  being  Benjamin  Bunn,  a  lieutenant 
in  Captain  James  Gray's  Company  from  Edgecombe,  and  the 
Council  of  Safety  in  North  Carolina  at  Wilmington  on  June  11, 
1776,  resolved  that  he  should  be  fully  commissioned  accordingly. 
One  of  his  sons,  Redmun  Bunn,  was  Senator  from  Nash 
County  in  1788,  and  frequently  represented  his  country  there- 
after in  the  House,  but  generally  the  members  of  the  family 
appear  to  have  devoted  themselves  to  their  private  business 
and  not  to  have  sought  official  station.  Enjoying  the 
pleasures  of  their  home  life,  they  were  contended  to  till  their 
fields  and  cultivate  their  estates,  living  in  happiness  and 
abundance. 


■^i$'^b^  Au^usms MolJ^-n.  ^-^ 


^■//jx^Z-  i/a'zjr^m^i.Puf^liffhffP 


BENJAMIN  HICKMAN  BUNN  63 

A  great-grandson  of  Benjamin  Bunn,  Redmun  Bunn,  success- 
fully united  the  business  of  merchandizing  to  his  farm  work  and 
exercised  a  strong  influence  in  his  community.  He  was  esteemed 
particularly  for  his  high  sense  of  honor,  his  gentleness  and  chival- 
ric  bearing.  He  had  an  acute  intellect  and  was  known  for  his 
keen  wit,  and  was  highly  regarded  in  his  community  for  his  social 
virtues.  In  person  he  was  striking  and  his  manners  engaging. 
Once,  being  in  Macon,  Ga.,  with  his  eldest  son,  William  H.  Bunn, 
a  gentleman,  seeing  their  names  recorded  at  the  hotel,  approached 
them,  and  introducing  himself  as  a  citizen  of  London,  said 
to  Mr.  Bunn :  "I  was  struck  by  the  name  of  William  H. 
Bunn;  that  is  the  name  of  one  of  the  Queen's  assistant 
counsellors,  and  you  are  the  very  image  of  him.  I  never 
saw  such  a  likeness. 

Mr.  Bunn  married  Miss  Mary  Hickman  Bryan,  and  they  were 
the  parents  of  the  subject  of  this  sketch. 

Blessed  with  perfect  health  and  living  in  boyhood  in  the  country, 
where  he  did  light  farm  work,  attending  to  the  stock  and  engaging 
in  country  pastimes,  Captain  Bunn  developed  into  a  strong, 
healthy  young  man.  He  attended  the  preparatory  schools  in  the 
neighborhood  until  he  was  sixteen  years  of  age,  when  the  war 
breaking  out,  on  the  20th  of  July,  1861,  he  enlisted  as  a  private 
in  Company  I  of  the  30th  North  Carolina  regiment,  commanded 
by  Colonel  Parker,  and  served  as  a  private  until  September,  1862, 
when  he  was  elected  second  lieutenant  of  Company  A.,  47th  North 
Carolina  regiment,  with  which  he  remained  connected  during  the 
rest  of  the  war,  although  in  1864  he  was  assigned  to  the  command 
of  the  corps  of  sharpshooters  of  the  brigade.  At  the  battle  of 
Gettysburg  the  regiment  was  subjected  to  a  terrible  experience  on 
the  first  day  and  suffered  severely,  and  on  that  occasion  Captain 
Bunn  was  wounded  in  front  of  Seminary  Heights.  He  was  car- 
ried back  to  the  hospital  and  removed  to  Winchester,  but  recov- 
ered rapidly  and  soon  rejoined  his  company,  and  from  that  time 
onward  participated  in  every  battle  fought  by  General  Lee  until 
he  was  again  wounded,  on  the  25th  of  March,  1865.  Indeed,  he 
was  one  of  two  officers  of  his  command  who  were  on  duty  every 


64  NORTH   CAROLINA 

day  of  the  campaign  of  1864  and  who  participated  in  every  fight 
in  which  the  division  took  part. 

Shortly  before  the  campaign  opened  in  1864  he  was  assigned  to 
the  command  of  a  corps  of  sharpshooters,  and  he  continued  on 
that  exposed  and  arduous  service  until  the  end  of  the  war.  In  tlie 
Wilderness  campaign,  he  with  his  sharpshooters  was  on  duty 
fourteen  out  of  nineteen  successive  nights,  guarding  the  front  line 
of  the  Confederate  army.  Participating  in  all  the  great  battles 
of  the  war,  he  rendered  efficient  service  on  every  field ;  and  being 
thrown  in  close  contact  with  his  commanders,  he  acquired  the  per- 
sonal acquaintance  and  friendship  of  the  generals  who  directed 
his  movements,  especially  of  General  MacRae,  commanding  his 
brigade,  General  Heth,  commanding  the  division,  and  General 
D.  H.  Hill,  the  corps  commander,  as  well  as  of  General  Lee  him- 
self. On  one  occasion  General  MacRae  declared  his  corps  of 
sharpshooters,  to  which  Captain  Bunn's  company  belonged,  the 
best  body  of  men  that  he  had  ever  seen,  the  most  thoroughly 
drilled  and  disciplined.  As  an  illustration  of  their  discipline  an 
incident  is  narrated  as  occurring  on  October  27,  1864,  at  Burgess's 
Mills.  The  brigade  being  sent  forward.  Captain  Bunn's  sharp- 
shooters were  advanced  to  discover  the  position  of  the  enemy,  he 
being  instructed  to  locate  the  Federal  lines  without  firing  and  to 
apprise  the  commanding  general  of  their  location.  He  conducted 
his  men  through  a  dense  underwood  and  suddenly  emerged  into 
a  beautiful  open  pine  forest  about  200  yards  deep,  behind  which 
was  an  outlying  field  grown  up  with  tall  broom  straw.  As  soon 
as  Captain  Bunn  reached  the  pine  forest  he  discovered  the  Fed- 
eral skirmish  line  in  full  view,  and  halting  they  commenced  to  talk 
to  each  other,  the  Federals  calling  out :  "Come  over,  Johnny,  and 
join  us.  Don't  you  think  you  have  been  fighting  long  enough? 
Come  over  and  let's  make  friends,"  etc.  Sending  word  back  to 
General  Mahone,  the  commanding  officer,  orders  were  received  to 
hold  his  position.  Presently,  when  the  brigade  had  come  up,  the 
engagement  began,  Captain  Bunn's  sharpshooters  advancing  rap- 
idly ;  but  as  soon  as  they  had  passed  beyond  the  forest  a  Federal 
line  of  battle,  previously  unseen,  ran  from  the  broom  straw  and 


BENJAMIN  HICKMAN  BUNN  65 

fired  a  volley  at  them,  who,  however,  were  so  well  trained  that  by 
a  direction  given  by  a  mere  motion  of  Captain  Bunn's  sword,  each 
one  lay  as  close  to  the  ground  as  possible  and  the  volley  passed 
over  them  and  not  a  man  in  the  company  was  harmed.  At  that 
very  moment  the  Confederate  line  of  battle  emerged  from  the 
woods  in  their  rear  and  a  fearful  contest  ensued.  The  sharp- 
shooters, being  between  the  firing  lines,  lay  as  quiet  as  if  dead  with 
the  balls  from  both  armies  whistling  over  their  heads.  This  sit- 
uation was  relieved  only  when  the  Federal  line  was  repulsed  and 
the  Confederates  marched  over  the  prostrate  sharpshooters,  who 
were  rejoiced  to  be  once  more  free  from  their  perilous  position. 

Captain  Bunn  passed  through  all  the  dangers  of  that  campaign 
without  harm,  but  on  the  25th  of  March,  1865,  before  Petersburg, 
he  received  a  wound  in  his  right  hand  cutting  the  sinews  of  all 
his  fingers  and  breaking  several  of  the  bones.  He  was  taken  to 
the  Winder  hospital  and  there  remained  until  the  Sunday  morn- 
ing when  Richmond  was  evacuated.  Having  dressed  for  the  first 
time  since  he  had  been  wounded,  he  walked  from  Richmond  to 
Danville  and  then  proceeded  by  rail  to  Rocky  Mount,  arriving 
there  the  day  Lee  surrendered. 

His  brother,  Elias  Bunn,  who  was  adjutant  of  the  12th 
North  Carolina  regiment,  was  wounded  at  Hanover  Court  House 
on  May  27th,  at  the  very  beginning  of  the  seven  days'  fight 
around  Richmond,  and  after  lingering  about  a  month,  died  on 
July  2nd.  His  other  brother,  William  H.  Bunn,  was  captain  of  a 
cavalry  company  and  was  killed  on  the  battlefield  at  Burgess's 
Mills. 

On  the  return  of  peace.  Captain  Bunn  at  once  began  the  study 
of  the  law  with  his  uncle,  Hon.  W.  T.  Dortch,  of  Goldsboro.  His 
grandfather  had  died  at  the  early  age  of  26,  and  his  grandmother 
married  a  second  time,  Mr.  William  Dortch,  and  their  son,  Hon. 
W.  T.  Dortch,  a  half-brother  of  Captain  Bunn's  father,  subse- 
quently married  Captain  Bunn's  first  cousin  on  his  mother's  side, 
and  there  were  intimate  relations  existing  between  the  uncle  and 
nephew,  and  Mr.  Dortch  admirably  prepared  him  for  the  bar. 
Receiving  his  license  in  1866,  he  began  to  practise  at  Rocky  Mount 


66  NORTH  CAROLINA 

the  next  year,  and  soon  made  his  impress  on  his  community  as  a 
fine  and  competent  lawyer. 

When  his  business  was  thoroughly  established  he  had  the  good 
fortune  to  be  happily  married  to  Miss  Harriet  A.  Philips,  a 
lady  of  very  superior  charms  and  accomplishments,  and  a  daughter 
of  Dr.  James  A.  Philips,  a  prominent  physician  of  that  section. 

The  loss  of  his  two  older  brothers  threw  much  responsibility 
upon  him  and  led  to  unusual  exertions  to  perform  his  duties  and 
to  win  a  high  pyosition  in  life.  A  strong  and  practised  speaker, 
he  was  appointed  as  a  sub-elector  in  the  Seymour  and  Blair  cam- 
paign of  1868,  and  he  has  engaged  in  every  political  campaign 
since  then.  In  1875  he  was  elected  a  member  of  the  Constitu- 
tional Convention,  and  rendered  conspicuous  service  as  Secretary 
of  the  Committee  on  Privileges  and  Elections  of  that  body,  whose 
work  was  most  important  in  preventing  the  control  of  the  con- 
^'ention  from  passing  into  the  hands  of  those  who  were  not  favor- 
able to  any  constitutional  reform.  Captain  Bunn  was  also  instru- 
mental in  having  important  legislation  adopted,  being  one  of  those 
who  regulated  the  calendar  of  work  and  arranged  the  same  before 
the  convention  each  day,  the  convention  being  almost  a  tie  and  all 
matters  being  passed  by  the  vote  of  the  presiding  officer. 

In  1880  he  was  a  delegate  to  the  National  Convention  that  nomi- 
nated General  Hancock,  and  he  made  a  strong  campaign  in  be- 
half of  that  distinguished  Federal  general,  whose  troops  he  had 
fought  on  many  a  battlefield.  He  represented  Nash  County  in  the 
General  Assembly  in  1883,  and  upon  the  appointment  of  a  joint 
committee  on  The  Code,  the  usual  rule  was  varied  and  the  compli- 
ment of  being  chairman  was  conferred  on  him,  although  only  a 
member  of  the  House,  while  several  very  distinguished  lawyers 
represented  the  Senate  on  that  committee,  which  was  composed 
of  twenty-two  members. 

The  next  year  he  served  as  Presidential  elector,  and  for  six 
years,  beginning  in  1888,  he  represented  his  district  in  the  Con- 
gress of  the  United  States  and  was  very  close  to  the  Speaker  of 
the  House  of  Representatives,  who  conferred  upon  him  the  chair- 
manship of  one  of  the  important  committees,  the  Committee  on 


BENJAMIN  HICKMAN  BUNN  67 

Claims.  On  this  committee  he  performed  arduous  legislative  ser- 
vice, examining  into  many  claims  and  drawing  up  reports  for 
the  action  of  Congress.  As  an  illustration  of  his  exhaustive  work, 
in  his  report  on  the  bill  for  the  relief  of  J.  M.  Lanston,  he  set 
forth  the  whole  sum  expended  for  expenses  in  every  contested 
election  since  the  organization  of  Congress.  His  report  in  the  52nd 
Congress  on  the  French  Spoliation  Claims  was  also  exhaustive. 
While  he  made  many  fine  addresses  in  the  House,  his  speech  on 
the  Federal  Election  Bill  was  probably  his  highest  and  crowning 
effort,  and  brought  him  merited  distinction.  In  it  he  gave  full 
expression  to  Southern  thought  on  the  relations  of  the  sections 
under  the  Constitution,  and  ably  discussed  the  causes  of  dissen- 
sion between  the  North  and  the  South.  This  speech  was  exten- 
sively circulated,  and  portions  of  it  were  incorporated  into  the 
Democratic  handbook  for  the  next  campaign.  Indeed  as  a  Rep- 
resentative in  Congress  he  performed  his  duties  with  great  effi- 
ciency and  to  the  entire  satisfaction  of  his  constituents  and  main- 
tained a  high  position  among  his  associates.  He  retired  from 
public  life  at  the  end  of  the  53rd  Congress,  having  thus  far  filled 
every  position  to  which  he  has  aspired. 

As  a  lawyer  Captain  Bunn  has  been  very  successful,  excelling 
as  an  advocate  and  as  a  manager  of  jury  cases,  while  equalled  by 
but  few  in  legal  learning.  He  has  appeared  in  nearly  every  capi- 
tal case  which  has  been  tried  in  Nash  County  in  thirty  years,  and 
in  every  important  civil  suit  since  he  has  been  at  the  bar;  and  he 
has  been  the  attorney  for  the  Atlantic  Coast  Line  Railroad  Com- 
pany and  for  Nash  County  almost  continuously  for  thirty  years. 

His  motto  in  life  has  been,  "To  live  so  that  the  world  will  say 
of  me  after  I  am  dead  that  'Here  lies  an  honest  man.'  "  He  sug- 
gests that  any  man  who  is  honest  and  energetic  will  succeed,  and 
he  has  never  been  able  to  conceal  his  contempt  for  deceit  in  any 
form. 

.S".  A.  Ashe. 


HUTCHINS  GORDON  BURTON 


N  his  day  and  generation  Hutchins  Gordon  Bur- 
ton was  a  leader  of  the  bar  in  North  Carolina, 
was  governor  of  the  State,  was  a  representa- 
tive in  Congress,  and  filled  other  offices  of 
honor  and  trust,  as  this  sketch  will  show  later 
on.  He  was  a  native  of  Virginia.  When  three 
years  old  his  father,  John  Burton,  died.  The  maiden  name  of 
John  Burton's  wife  was  Mary  Gordon.  On  the  death  of  his  father 
young  Hutchins  was  left  to  the  care  of  Colonel  Robert  Burton,  a 
North  Carolina  statesman,  who  was  his  uncle  and  then  resided  in 
Granville  County. 

On  coming  of  age  Hutchins  G.  Burton  settled  in  Mecklenburg 
County,  North  Carolina.  Probably  his  first  appearance  in  public 
office  was  in  1809,  when  he  was  elected  to  represent  his  adopted 
county  of  Mecklenburg  in  the  North  Carolina  House  of  Commons. 
He  served  in  a  similar  capacity  at  the  session  of  1810,  and  during 
the  sitting  of  this  assembly  he  was  elected  (November  28th)  to  the 
office  of  attorney  general  of  North  Carolina.  This  office  he  held 
until  1816,  when  he  resigned — his  resignation  being  accepted  by 
the  Legislature  on  the  21st  of  November  in  the  year  last  men- 
tioned. Taking  up  his  abode  in  the  town  of  Halifax,  Mr. 
Burton  represented  that  borough  in  the  North  Carolina  House  of 
Commons  at  the  session  of  1817.  Having  later  been  elected  to 
represent  his  district  in  the  Congress  of  the  United  States,  he  ap- 


HUTCHINS  GORDON  BURTON  69 

peared  in  the  House  of  Representatives  at  Washington  on  Decem- 
ber 6,  1819,  and  was  duly  sworn  in  as  a  member.  He  served  un- 
til the  23rd  of  March,  1824,  when  he  resigned.  When  the  next 
General  Assembly  met  it  elected  Mr.  Burton  to  the  office  of  gov- 
ernor of  North  Carolina  on  December  3,  1824,  and  four  days 
later,  on  December  7th,  he  was  duly  inaugurated.  His  term  of 
office  ended  on  December  8,  1827,  when  his  successor,  Governor 
James  Iredell,  was  sworn  in.  During  the  time  that  Governor  Bur- 
ton was  in  office  he  was  a  great  social  favorite  as  well  as  a  Chief 
Magistrate  of  wisdom  and  discretion.  Possessing  oratorical  gifts 
of  a  high  order,  he  was  frequently  in  demand  at  the  Fourth  of 
July  celebrations  which  were  then  conducted  in  Raleigh,  as  well 
as  elsewhere,  on  such  a  grand  scale  and  with  so  much  ceremony 
and  enthusiasm.  It  was  Governor  Burton's  fortune  also  to  extend 
an  official  welcome  to  the  illustrious  "guest  of  the  nation,"  Gen- 
eral Lafayette,  when  that  great  soldier  passed  on  his  triumphal 
journey  through  North  Carolina  in  1825.  Chief  Justice  Taylor 
and  other  distinguished  citizens  were  sent  as  a  committee  to  meet 
America's  great  friend  when  he  entered  the  State  from  the  north- 
ward at  the  end  of  February,  and,  after  various  entertainments  at 
Halifax  and  elsewhere,  the  party  reached  the  State  Capital  on 
March  2d.  On  that  day  a  formal  speech  of  welcome  was  made 
by  Governor  Burton  and  replied  to  by  Lafayette.  Both  speeches 
are  printed  in  the  Raleigh  Register  of  March  8,  1825.  In  opening 
his  remarks  Lafayette  said  : 

"On  the  first  moment  of  my  return  to  the  blessed  shores  of  America  I 
anticipated  the  pleasure  to  revisit  this  State,  and  here  to  witness  the  pros- 
perous result  of  that  independence  and  self-government  the  cry  for  which 
had  been  heard  from  North  Carolina  long  before  it  was  reechoed  in  a 
Continental  Congress." 

In  the  same  newspaper  we  find  a  toast,  offered  by  Lafayette  at 
the  entertainment  in  his  honor,  which  was  as  follows : 

"The  State  of  North  Carolina,  its  metropolis,  and  the  20th  of  May, 
177s.  when  a  generous  people  called  for  independence  and  freedom,  of 
which  may  they  more  and  more  forever  cherish  the  principles  and  enjoy 
the  blessings." 


70  NORTH  CAROLINA 

In  toasting  General  Lafayette,  Governor  Burton  offered  the 
following  sentiment : 

"The  man  who  estimated  as  but  dust  in  the  balance  all  the  blessings  of 
this  life  when  in  the  opposite  scale  were  placed  liberty  and  independence." 

Among  the  numerous  other  toasts  offered  at  this  entertainment 
were  the  following : 

By  Colonel  William  Polk,  who  presided  : 

"Lafayette,  the  last  of  the  Revolutionary  general  officers — may  the  even- 
ing of  his  life  be  as  happy  and  serene  as  the  meridian  of  his  days  has  been 
great  and  glorious." 

By  Chief  Justice  John  Louis  Taylor: 

"George  Washington  Lafayette,  worthy  of  the  great  name  he  bears — alike 
for  his  military  knowledge,  public  services  and  private  worth." 

By  George  Washington  Lafayette : 

"The  new  ship  of  the  line,  North  Carolina,  a  source  of  pride  to  her 
friends — may  she  ever  prove  a  scourge  to  her  enemies." 

By  State  Treasurer  John  Haywood  : 

"The  battle  of  Brandywine — that  epoch  in  the  history  of  the  war  of  the 
Revolution  when  French  and  American  blood  first  flowed  together  in  the 
same  brotherly  current  and  was  offered  a  rich  oblation  on  the  altar  of 
Liberty." 

By  Judge  Henry  Potter : 

"Our  venerated  guest — may  the  immense  temple  of  freedom  which  he,  as 
a  master  workman,  contributed  to  erect,  ever  stand  as  a  lesson  to  oppres- 
sors, an  example  to  the  oppressed,  a  sanctuary  for  the  rights  of  mankind." 

Part  of  this  toast,  said  Judge  Potter,  he  had  adopted  from  the 
language  of  Lafayette's  farewell  address  to  Congress. 


HUTCHINS  GORDON  BURTON  71 

By  Editor  Joseph  Gales,  of  the  Raleigh  Register: 

"The  people,  the  source  of  all  political  power — may  the  time  soon  arrive 
when  their  influence  shall  have  its  wholesome  effects  on  the  governments  of 
the  Old  World." 

When  Lafayette  proceeded  southward  on  his  tour,  an  escort  of 
honor,  both  civil  and  military,  again  accompanied  him,  and  at 
Fayetteville — a  place  named  after  him — he  was  again  the  recipi- 
ent of  a  patriotic  demonstration  before  being  turned  over  to  the 
hospitalities  of  South  Carolina. 

On  the  6th  of  December,  1825,  Governor  Burton  was  elected 
Grand  Master  of  the  Masonic  Grand  Lodge  of  North  Carolina, 
and  served  in  that  capacity  till  the  6th  of  December,  1827.  A 
handsome  oil  portrait  of  him  is  now  owned  by  the  Grand  Lodge. 

Under  the  old  State  Constitution  the  Governor's  term  of  office 
was  one  year,  with  the  provision  that  he  could  not  serve  more 
than  three  terms  in  six  years.  Governor  Burton  served  three 
terms ;  and  about  the  end  of  his  last,  when  he  was  not  eligible  for 
reelection,  President  John  Quincy  Adams  nominated  him  Gov- 
ernor of  the  Territory  of  Arkansas ;  but,  for  political  reasons, 
this  nomination  was  not  confirmed  by  the  United  States  Senate. 

Governor  Burton  died  on  the  21st  of  April,  1836,  probably 
while  on  a  visit  to  relatives  in  Lincoln  County,  as  his  death  oc- 
curred in  that  vicinity.  He  was  interred  in  the  burial  ground  of 
Unity  Church  at  Beatty's  Ford,  in  Lincoln.  His  wife  was  Sarah 
Wales  Jones,  a  daughter  of  the  Honorable  Willie  Jones  of  Hali- 
fax, so  celebrated  as  a  Revolutionary  statesman.  Many  descend- 
ants of  Governor  Burton  are  now  living.  His  widow  married 
Colonel  Andrew  Joyner,  to  whom  reference  will  be  found  in  a 
separate  sketch. 

Marshall  De  Lancey  Haywood. 


ROBERT  FISHBURNE  CAMPBELL 


^^=J^OBERT  FISHBURNE  CAMPBELL  was  born 
at  Lexington,  Virginia,  December  12,  1858. 
His  parents  were  of  Scotch-Irish  extraction. 
His  father,  John  Lyle  Campbell,  A.  M.,  LL.D., 
occupied  with  distinction  for  thirty-five  years 
the  Chair  of  Chemistry  and  Geology  in  Wash- 
ington College,  afterwards  Washington  and  Lee  University. 
Professor  Campbell's  grandfather,  Alexander  Campbell,  who 
came  from  the  North  of  Ireland  to  the  Valley  of  Virginia,  was  one 
of  the  original  trustees  of  Liberty  Hall  Academy,  the  germ  of 
Washington  and  Lee  University. 

Professor  Campbell  married  Harriet  Hatch  Bailey,  who  was 
bom  in  Pittsfield,  Mass.,  where  her  father,  the  Rev.  Rufus  W. 
Bailey,  D.  D.,  was  pastor  of  prominent  Presbyterian  churches, 
founded  what  is  now  known  as  the  Mary  Baldwin  Seminary,  in 
Staunton,  Virginia,  and  was  at  the  time  of  his  death,  in  1863, 
President  of  Austin  College,  Texas. 

Robert  Campbell,  the  subject  of  this  sketch,  became  a  student 
of  Washingfton  and  Lee  University  in  1873,  and  was  grad- 
uated in  1879  with  the  degree  of  Master  of  Arts.  He  was  the 
winner  of  two  prize  medals,  one  for  the  highest  standing  in 
the  schools  of  Moral  Philosophy,  English  Literature  and 
Modern  Languages ;  the  other  for  the  best  essay  in  the  Uni- 
versity Magazine. 


^V     '-->    ^    ^     ''■■-,'/..,-■-.       t-Br, 


ROBERT  FISHBURNE  CAMPBELL  73 

After  his  graduation  he  taught  for  three  years  at  Charlestown, 
West  Virginia,  Tinkling  Spring,  Virginia,  and  Richmond,  Vir- 
ginia, after  which  he  entered  the  Union  Theological  Seminary  at 
Hampden-Sidney,  Virginia. 

He  was  pastor  of  the  Millboro  and  Windy  Cove  churches, 
Bath  County,  Virginia,  1885-1889;  of  Davidson  College  Church, 
North  Carolina,  1889-1890;  of  the  church  at  Buena  Vista,  Va., 
1890-1892.  In  the  Fall  of  1892  he  accepted  a  call  to  the  pastorate 
of  the  First  Presbyterian  Church,  Asheville,  N.  C,  where  he  has 
labored  for  thirteen  years  with  marked  success  and  growing  dis- 
tinction. In  1893  he  received  the  degree  of  Doctor  of  Divinity 
from  Davidson  College. 

Dr.  Campbell  is  a  man  of  broad  culture,  his  range  of  reading 
and  study  having  been  unusually  wide  in  the  fields  of  science, 
theology  and  the  humanities.  He  is  an  accomplished  amateur 
botanist,  having  begun  the  study  of  plants  at  the  age  of  eleven  in 
rambles  with  his  father,  who  was  a  devoted  student  of  natural 
science,  and  having  found  his  chief  recreation  from  the  indoor 
studies  of  his  manhood  in  excursions  to  the  broad  fields  and  path- 
less woods  in  search  of  some  rare  plant,  or  in  cultivating  closer 
acquaintance  with  old  friends  in  the  vegetable  world.  His  study 
of  nature  is  not  a  mere  matter  of  scientific  dissection  and  analysis. 
He  is  one  of  those  "who,  in  the  love  of  Nature,  hold  communion 
with  her  visible  forms,"  to  whom  ''she  speaks  a  various  lan- 
guage." He  is  a  sympathetic  student  of  the  poets,  especially  of 
such  as  stoop  tenderly  over  the 

"Wee,  modest,  crimson-tippit  flower,'' 
to  whom 

"The  meanest  flower  that  blows  can  give 
Thoughts  that  do  often  lie  too  deep  for  tears." 

A  few  years  ago  Dr.  Campbell  presented  to  the  Asheville  High 
School  a  collection  of  160  dried  plants,  beautifully  mounted,  with 
the  view  of  promoting  the  study  of  nature,  and  in  the  hope  that 
this  limited  herbarium  would  constitute  the  nucleus  for  a  larger 
collection  in  the  future. 


74  NORTH  CAROLINA 

Dr.  Campbell  is  a  man  of  fine  executive  ability,  as  is  shown  by 
the  thorough  and  effective  organization  of  the  large  church  of 
which  he  is  pastor,  and  by  the  aggressive  work  of  the  Home  Mis- 
sions Committee  of  Asheville  Presbytery,  of  which  he  has  been 
chairman  since  the  creation  of  the  committee  in  1896.  But  his 
greatest  success  has  been  in  the  pulpit.  He  excels  in  expository 
preaching,  especially  in  making  clear  and  simple  the  difficult 
doctrinal  teachings  of  God's  Word.  His  sermons  are  closely  logi- 
cal, his  style  simple  and  chaste,  and  his  illustrations  always  il- 
lustrate. He  never  touches  a  subject  without  illuminating  it.  He 
is  mighty  in  the  Scriptures,  his  quotations  and  proofs  from  the 
Word  of  God  being  the  aptest,  the  most  appropriate  and  the  most 
convincing  the  writer  ever  heard  from  any  man.  He  is  strictly 
orthodox  according  to  the  standards  of  the  Westminster  Confes- 
sion, the  Shorter  Catechism  and  the  Epistles  of  St.  Paul ;  but  he 
does  not  condemn  as  heterodox  those  who  do  not  agree  with  him 
in  his  theological,  political  and  scientific  views.  He  is  strict  with 
himself  and  liberal  with  other  people,  because  in  theory  and  prac- 
tice he  allows  others  the  same  liberty  which  he  demands  for 
himself.  The  Old  Testament  prophet  says :  "What  doth  the 
Lord  require  of  thee,  O  man,  but  to  do  justly  and  to  love 
mercy  and  to  walk  humbly  with  thy  God?"  St.  James,  the 
apostle  of  common  sense,  says :  "Pure  religion  and  undefiled 
before  God  and  the  Father  is  this,  to  visit  the  fatherless  and 
widows  in  their  affliction,  and  to  keep  himself  unspotted  from 
the  world."  Dr.  Campbell  lives  very  closely  up  to  this  combined 
standard. 

In  the  Greek  Church  the  officiating  priest  speaks  from  behind 
a  screen  so  as  not  to  be  seen  by  the  people  lest  God's  message  to 
them  be  obscured  by  the  presence  and  personality  of  the  messen- 
ger. This  is  a  fine  and  impressive  ideal,  and  Dr.  Campbell  fills 
this  ideal.  He  is  God's  messenger  delivering  God's  message  to 
the  people;  himself  invisible,  and  this  unconsciousness  of  himself, 
this  absorption  of  his  personality  in  his  message,  is  one  of  the 
chief  factors  in  his  unusual  power  as  a  preacher. 

As  a  presbyter  he  is  one  of  the  most  distinguished  in  the  South- 


ROBERT  FISHBURNE  CAMPBELL  75 

ern  Presbyterian  Church.  He  is  the  chiefest  force  and  power  in 
the  Presbytery  of  Asheville  and  the  founder  and  mainspring  of 
its  home  missionary  work  among  the  mountaineers,  which  is  the 
most  successful  and  the  most  germinant  domestic  work  in  the 
Southern  Presbyterian  Church. 

His  paper  on  the  classification  of  the  Mountain  Whites,  pub- 
lished in  the  Southern  Workman  and  reproduced  in  pamphlet 
form,  is  the  ablest,  most  just  and  sympathetic  statement  which 
has  yet  appeared  of  these  strong,  patriotic  and  pure-blooded 
Anglo-Saxon  people  and  of  their  claims  on  the  country  at  large 
for  their  victories  at  Cowpens  and  King's  Mountain,  for  their 
crippling  of  Cornwallis  at  Guilford  Court  House,  for  their 
forming  a  very  large  proportion  of  our  army  in  Mexico,  for  their 
splendid  bravery  in  Lee's  army,  and  for  the  fact  that  of  the  2800 
men  called  for  from  North  Carolina  for  the  Spanish  War,  2500  of 
them  came  from  within  fifty  miles  of  Asheville. 

Dr.  Campbell's  activities,  though  occupied  chiefly  with  his 
duties  as  pastor  of  the  First  Church  of  Asheville,  are  not  confined 
to  it  alone.  His  interest  in  and  work  for  the  so-called  Mountain 
Whites  has  already  been  referred  to.  He  has  taken  a  deep  and 
intelligent  interest  also  in  the  Southern  blacks.  When  a  boy  of 
only  thirteen,  in  1871,  the  college  servants  of  Washington  and 
Lee  University,  in  which  his  father  was  professor  of  science, 
asked  him  to  teach  them  to  read  and  write,  and  he  opened  a  night 
school,  which  was  attended  for  several  years  by  many  of  the  most 
intelligent  negroes  in  and  around  Lexington.  This  was  with  the 
entire  approval  of  the  professors  and  students  of  the  university; 
and  it  was  an  earnest  of  the  only  solution  of  the  negro  problem, 
which  is  that,  if  the  negroes  are  to  be  uplifted,  it  must  be  done  by 
their  being  taught  by  white  teachers  of  the  ex-slave-holding  class. 
"If  the  blind  lead  the  blind,  both  shall  fall  into  the  ditch."  The 
negro  is  blind  about  himself  because  he  cannot  see,  the  Northern 
white  man  and  white  woman  are  blind  about  him  because  they 
will  not  see,  and  neither  the  one  nor  the  other  has  followed  the 
Scripture  injunction,  "Anoint  thine  eyes  with  eye-salve  that  thou 
mayest  see."    And  so  the  result  of  the  nation's  dealing  with  the 


76  NORTH  CAROLINA 

negro  since  1865  (in  spite  of  our  having  divided  our  educational 
bread  between  his  children  and  ours  to  the  extent  of  one  hundred 
and  thirty  million  dollars  of  tax  money,  in  our  poverty,  since  the 
surrender),  is  convincing  the  Northern  people  that  in  dealing  with 
the  negro  the  nation  has  made  a  mistake  in  some  way  and  this 
mistake  must  be  corrected  somehow.  Dr.  Campbell's  effort  to 
correct  this  mistake  in  his  paper  on  "Some  Aspects  of  the  Race 
Problem  in  the  South"  has  given  him  a  national  reputation.  The 
genesis  of  this  paper  was  a  sermon  urging  the  Asheville  Presby- 
terian Church  in  particular,  and  the  Southern  Presbyterian 
Church  in  general,  to  engage  earnestly  in  giving  the  Gospel  to  the 
Africans  among  us  as  well  as  the  Africans  in  the  Dark  Continent, 
as  the  only  "eye  salve"  through  which  a  man  or  a  race  can  be  en- 
abled to  say,  "Whereas  I  was  blind,  now  I  see."  The  publication 
of  this  sermon  was  demanded  by  all  classes  in  Asheville,  Northern 
and  Southern,  white  and  black.  Revised  and  expanded,  it  was 
printed  in  pamphlet  form  and  an  edition  of  3,000  was  soon  ex- 
hausted. A  second  edition  of  10,000  must  soon  be  followed  by 
another  issue.  This  very  able  paper  has  gone  to  almost  every 
State  in  the  Union  and  has  been  most  favorably  commented  on 
by  such  papers  as  the  Springfield  Republican,  the  New  York 
Evening  Post,  the  New  York  Nation,  the  Philadelphia  Press,  the 
Pittsburg  Dispatch,  and  other  leading  papers  of  both  North  and 
South.  Hundreds  of  letters  were  received,  many  of  them  from 
distinguished  Northern  men,  thanking  the  author  for  having 
treated  the  subject  with  so  much  intelligence  and  breadth  of  view 
and  in  a  spirit  so  fair  and  kindly.  Dr.  Campbell  is  also  the  author 
of  a  sermon  on  the  church  fair,  published  by  the  Presbyterian 
Committee  of  Publication,  Richmond,  Virginia,  which  has  had  a 
wide  circulation  and  a  wholesome  influence  in  correcting  erro- 
neous views  and  harmful  practices  in  the  line  of  Christian  benevo- 
lence. 

Dr.  Campbell's  paper  read  before  the  chief  literary  club  of 
Asheville  on  "The  Dog  in  Literature  and  Life"  was  most  highly 
commended  for  its  style,  its  humor,  its  learning,  its  culture  and 
its  broad  sympathy.    Some  said  that  Charles  Lamb  did  no  better 


ROBERT  FISHBURNE  CAMPBELL  ^^ 

in  the  Essays  of  Elia,  and  some  that  Addison  did  no  better  in  the 
Spectator. 

Dr.  Campbell  has  been  in  Asheville  for  thirteen  years,  and 
though  he  has  had  calls  to  wider  fields  with  much  larger  salaries, 
he  has  declined  to  leave  the  Asheville  church,  the  Asheville  cli- 
mate and  the  home  missionary  work  of  the  Asheville  Presbytery. 
If  we  had  more  preachers  with  Dr.  Campbell's  brains,  piety,  zeal, 
culture,  liberality,  patriotic  citizenship  and  sanctified  common 
sense  the  Church  would  soon  have  the  "world  for  her  parish.'' 

Dr.  Campbell  was  married  October  8,  1885,  to  Sally  Montgom- 
ery Ruffner,  youngest  daughter  of  William  Henry  Ruflfner,  LL. 
D.,  the  most  distinguished  educational  leader  Virginia  has  pro- 
duced since  Thomas  Jefferson's  day.  In  every  church  served  by 
her  husband  she  has  been  universally  honored  and  beloved  as  the 
model  pastor's  wife,  prudent,  tactful,  sympathetic  and  abounding 
in  good  works. 

Dr.  and  Mrs.  Campbell  have  one  son,  William  Henry  Ruffner 
Campbell,  born  December  17,  1889. 

Robert  Bingham. 


HENRY   WELLINGTON   COBB 

»ENRY  WELLINGTON  COBB  was  bom  in 
Caswell  Count}',  North  Carolina,  on  the  21st 
day  of  January,  1866,  and  is  therefore  just  forty 
years  of  age.  He  was  the  youngest  child  of 
Henry  Wellington  Cobb  and  Mary  Blackwell 
Howard,  and  is  descended  from  old  English 
stock.  In  161 3  Joseph  Cobb  emigrated  from  England  to  Vir- 
ginia. Just  before  the  Revolution  three  of  the  Cobb  brothers  set- 
tled in  North  Carolina,  and  one  in  Georgia :  while  the  oldest 
brother  moved  North.  One  of  his  maternal  ancestors,  Henry 
Howard,  was  a  Revolutionary  soldier  and  took  part  in  the  battle 
of  Guilford  Court  House. 

Until  the  subject  of  this  sketch  had  reached  the  age  of  four- 
teen years  he  remained  at  home  upon  the  farm  in  Caswell  County, 
doing  light  farm  work  during  the  summer  months,  and  thus  early 
formed  those  habits  of  industry  which  have  had  such  a  marked 
influence  upon  his  career.  During  the  winter  months  he  attended 
such  public  schools  as  the  country  afforded,  and  from  time  to  time, 
subscription  schools  supported  by  the  more  substantial  farmers  in 
his  neighborhood.  Before  he  had  reached  his  eleventh  year  his 
father  died,  and  at  the  tender  age  of  fourteen  years  this  country 
lad  left  the  parental  roof  in  order  that  he  might  lighten  the  burden 
of  a  widowed  mother  and  began  his  battle  with  the  realities  of 
life.  He  secured  a  position  in  a  retail  dry-goods  store  in  Danville, 
Virginia,  and  while  there,  even  at  this  early  age,  when  it  would 


-E^  *y  M.  i?  WklhoTThB  di^ra.U'Z' 


nha?  J^  '^m.M^psn,  I^i^h/aihffr. 


HENRY  WELLINGTON  COBB  79 

seem  that  questions  of  a  serious  nature  could  find  no  lodg- 
ment in  the  mind  of  one  so  young,  realized  his  need  of  a  more 
liberal  education,  and  notwithstanding  the  fact  that  his  em- 
ployment kept  him  engaged  from  early  dawn  until  dark,  by 
attending  night  schools,  enlisting  the  aid  of  private  tutors,  and 
burning  the  midnight  oil  he  acquired  a  sound  English  educa- 
tion, studied  the  higher  branches  of  mathematics,  read  in  the 
original  tongue  some  of  the  masterpieces  of  the  great  Latin  poets, 
and  thus  laid  broad  and  deep  the  foundation  of  his  future 
success. 

The  life  of  a  business  man  always  appealed  to  him,  and  in  the 
year  1883,  being  then  just  seventeen  years  old,  he  entered  Eastman 
College,  Poughkeepsie,  New  York,  from  which  he  afterwards 
graduated  in  its  business  course.  Returning  from  Eastman  Col- 
lege to  Danville,  he  started  in  business  for  himself  as  a  tobacco 
buyer,  and  in  the  year  1885  moved  to  Greensboro,  North  Caro- 
lina, and  continued  in  the  same  business.  It  was  while  he  was 
engaged  in  this  occupation  in  Greensboro  that  his  capacity  as  a 
business  man  and  his  pre-eminence  as  a  judge  of  leaf  tobacco  at- 
tracted the  attention  of  the  officers  of  the  American  Tobacco  Com- 
pany and  he  was  offered  the  position  of  manager  and  buyer  for 
this  company  in  Greensboro,  North  Carolina. 

During  his  residence  in  that  city  Mr.  Cobb  took  a  lively  interest 
in  public  affairs,  was  chairman  of  the  most  important  committee 
of  the  Board  of  Aldermen,  and  organized  and  became  the  first 
president  of  the  Industrial  and  Immigration  Association;  and  to 
him  in  a  large  degree  is  attributed  the  remarkable  growth  and 
prosperity  this  city  has  had  during  the  past  few  years,  and  the 
citizens  of  Greensboro  have  watched  his  career  with  exceeding 
gratification,  while  he,  in  turn,  has  never  failed  to  take  a  keen 
interest  in  all  that  pertains  to  its  welfare  and  upbuilding,  and  he 
still  remains  one  of  the  contributing  members  of  its  Chamber  of 
Commerce. 

After  a  residence  in  Greensboro  of  a  few  years  Mr.  Cobb  was 
made  manager  and  buyer  of  the  American  Tobacco  Company  and 
the  Continental  Tobacco  Company  with  headquarters  in  Danville, 


8o  NORTH   CAROLINA 

Virginia.  From  that  point  he  was  transferred  to  the  city  of  Rich- 
mond, Virginia,  and  again  promoted,  and  after  a  residence  of  a 
few  months  at  this  last  named  city,  was  once  more  promoted  and 
made  manager  of  the  leaf  department  of  the  American  Cigar 
Company  with  headquarters  in  New  York  City.  Since  that  time 
he  has  been  advanced  from  manager  of  the  leaf  department  to  sec- 
ond vice-president,  then  to  first  vice-president,  and  to-day  occupies 
the  position  of  first  vice-president  and  manager  of  the  selling  de- 
partment of  the  American  Cigar  Company,  also  vice-president  and 
director  of  the  American  Stogie  Company,  first  vice-president  and 
director  of  the  International  Cigar  Machinery  Company,  director 
of  the  Havana  Tobacco  Company,  Havana  Commercial  Company, 
Cuban  Leaf  Company,  Havana  American  Company,  and  Porto 
Rican  Leaf  Tobacco  Company. 

On  the  25th  day  of  January,  1887,  Mr.  Cobb  led  to  the  altar 
Miss  Jennie  Bethell  Scales,  a  daughter  of  Colonel  and  Mrs.  J.  I. 
Scales,  of  Greensboro,  North  Carolina,  and  two  children  were  born 
of  this  union,  both  of  whom,  since  the  death  of  their  mother,  live 
with  their  father,  who  has  never  remarried. 

Thoroughness  in  whatever  is  undertaken  is  perhaps  the  most 
prominent  trait  of  character  of  the  subject  of  this  sketch.  No 
question  which  engages  his  attention  is  ever  laid  aside  by  him  until 
he  has  mastered  its  minutest  detail.  At  the  time  he  was  first  ap- 
pointed manager  of  the  leaf  department  of  the  American  Cigar 
Company,  although  he  was  recognized  as  one  of  the  foremost 
authorities  in  this  country  upon  American  leaf  for  plug  and  smok- 
ing purposes,  he  was  nevertheless  to  a  large  extent  unacquainted 
with  the  merits  of  cigar  tobacco  and  Havana  leaf.  To  the  end 
that  he  might  be  thoroughly  cognizant  of  all  the  details  of  the 
onerous  duties  imposed  upon  him  by  his  advancement  he  studied 
Havana  leaf,  not  only  upon  the  floors  of  the  dififerent  warehouses 
of  the  country,  but  also  went  direct  to  the  Cuban  fields  and  there 
remained  until  he  was  so  familiar  with  the  growth,  cultivation  and 
treatment  of  Havana  tobacco  that  he  is  to-day  the  successful 
manager  and  director  of  the  largest  cigar  manufacturing  corpo- 
ration in  the  world. 


HENRY  WELLINGTON  COBB 


8i 


Among  those  things  to  which  he  attributes  the  success  he  has 
attained  he  places,  above  all,  the  influence  of  his  mother,  and  after 
that,  industry  and  uncompromising  honesty,  study  and  extensive 
reading,  and  the  habit  of  thinking  deeply  upon  any  question  which 
engages  him.  Asked  the  question  what  suggestion  from  his  ex- 
perience and  observation  would  he  offer  to  young  Americans  as  to 
principles,  methods  and  habits  which  he  thought  would  contribute 
most  to  attain  true  success  in  life,  his  businesslike  reply  was  :  "Be 
industrious,  honest,  and  absolutely  thorough  in  whatever  is  under- 
taken."   These  principles  he  has  made  a  part  of  his  life. 

Zehulon  V.  Taylor. 


MICHAEL   J.    CORBETT 


HE  life  of  M.  J.  Corbett  is  another  striking  il- 
lustration of  the  oft  repeated  statement  that,  in 
this  country,  the  door  of  opportunity  stands 
ajar  and  that  any  man  who  will  may  enter 
therein  and  achieve  abundant  success,  if  only 
he  be  a  man;  one  possessing  high  integrity,  en- 
ergy, industry,  prudence  and  sound  sense;  that  family  influence, 
fortune  and  friends  are  not  essential  to  an  honorable  career,  the 
only  essential  being  character — manhood. 

Mr.  Corbett  was  born  in  Lismore,  County  Waterford,  Ireland, 
on  the  4th  day  of  August,  1856.  His  parents  were  of  good  social 
position  but  of  limited  means,  his  father,  John  Corbett,  being  a 
small  farmer  and  contractor.  He  was  sent  to  the  National 
Schools,  then,  as  now,  under  the  charge  of  the  Christian  Brothers, 
until  his  eighteenth  year,  when  he  stopped  school  for  the  purpose 
of  assisting  his  father  in  the  work  of  the  farm;  but  this  soon 
proved  insupportable  to  the  bright  lad  whose  ambition  had  been 
stirred  by  the  tales  of  the  success  of  his  countrymen  in  the  great 
Republic  beyond  the  sea,  and  receiving  encouragement  from  an 
uncle,  the  late  Mr.  James  Corbett,  then  a  resident  of  Wilmington, 
he  determined  to  try  his  fortune  in  the  same  fair  land. 

With  the  blessings  and  prayers  of  his  parents,  who  had  reluc- 
tantly consented,  Mr.  Corbett  left  his  home  and  arrived  in  the  city 
of  Wilmington,  N.  C.  on  the  28th  day  of  March,  1878,  and  im- 
mediately set  to  work  to  obtain  employment. 


^fi^fl^  Vh'i.V^l:'^^^._P<^i^-^j- 


MICHAEL  J.  CORBETT  83 

The  fates  seemed  propitious,  and  he  at  once  secured  a  tempor- 
ary position  with  the  firm  of  Preston  Gumming  &  Company,  sup- 
plying the  place  of  a  clerk  on  vacation.  On  the  return  of  the 
latter  he  passed  into  the  employ  of  B.  F.  Mitchell  &  Company,  at 
a  nominal  salary,  but  so  alert  and  attentive  to  duty  was  he  that 
the  firm,  apprehensive  of  losing  his  services,  gave  him  a  substan- 
tial increase  of  salary.  At  the  end  of  the  year  he  secured  more  re- 
munerative employment  with  Mr.  J.  B.  Worth,  who  was  just  start- 
ing in  the  peanut  business ;  but  the  venture  was  not  satisfactory, 
and  Mr.  Worth  decided  to  move  to  Petersburg,  Virginia,  and  re- 
quested young  Corbett  to  go  with  him ;  but  the  offer  was  declined, 
and  he  went  into  the  service  of  a  well  known  firm,  which,  to  the 
astonishment  of  the  community,  soon  failed,  leaving  Mr.  Corbett 
again  without  employment. 

This  was  a  great  disappointment,  but  it  did  not  daunt  his  ardent 
spirit.  He  decided  to  go  to  New  York,  and  went  on  the  first 
steamer. 

During  his  connection  with  B.  F.  Mitchell  &  Company  and  Mr. 
Worth  he  had,  by  diligence,  obtained  a  more  competent  knowledge 
of  the  peanut  business,  the  methods  of  cultivation,  the  sources  of 
supply  and  the  best  markets,  and  also  some  acquaintance  with  the 
largest  dealers  in  New  York  and  throughout  the  country. 

Before  he  left  for  New  York,  Mr.  W.  I.  Gore,  knowing  his 
thorough  reliability,  informed  him  that  he  had  a  large  supply  of 
peanuts  and  requested  him  to  take  samples  and  try  to  sell  some  of 
them  on  commission.  His  efforts  were  successful  beyond  his 
fondest  expectations. 

In  the  meantime  he  had  received  several  inquiries  from  Wil- 
mington as  to  his  return.  Having  felt  the  fascination  of  the  life 
of  that  goodly  city,  being  drawn  by  the  most  potent  of  earthly  at- 
tractions, and  encouraged  by  his  previous  success  and  by  numer- 
ous letters,  Mr.  Corbett  again  set  sail  for  Wilmington.  He  was 
met  at  the  dock  by  Albert  Gore,  son  of  Mr.  W.  I.  Gore,  with  a 
message  from  his  father  to  make  no  business  engagements  until 
he  could  have  an  interview  with  him. 

At  that  interview,  held  the  next  morning,  Mr.  Gore  offered  to 


84  NORTH   CAROLINA 

furnish  the  capital  to  enable  Mr.  Corbett  to  start- in  business  for 
himself ;  but  fearful  of  debt  and  apprehensive  of  the  result,  Mr. 
Corbett  asked  for  time  to  consider  the  proposition. 

Pending  its  consideration  several  persons  had  offered  him  em- 
ployment, and  he  returned  to  Mr.  Gore  almost  persuaded  to  de- 
cline his  generous  offer.  But  Mr.  Gore,  kindly,  large  hearted, 
sagacious  man  that  he  wtas,  saw  that  the  root  of  success  was  in  this 
young  man  and  strongly  urged  the  venture.  To  this  kindly  in- 
sistence on  the  part  of  Mr.  Gore  the  city  of  Wilmington  is  proba- 
bly indebted  for  one  of  its  most  progressive  and  useful  citizens. 

The  result  of  this  business  venture  was  thus  simply  and  mod- 
estly told  by  Mr.  Corbett  many  years  afterwards : 

"I  started  out,  rented  a  store  and  decided  to  handle  some  goods  on 
commission,  as  the  risk  of  losing  money  would  be  less  in  that  than  in  any 
other  kind  of  business.  As  my  good  friend  predicted,  the  first  year's  busi- 
ness showed  a  profit,  and  the  second  year  made  a  still  better  showing.  In 
the  meantime  Mr.  Gore  had  taken  his  son  Albert  into  his  business  as 
partner,  and  at  the  end  of  the  second  year  they  proposed  to  combine  my 
business  with  theirs  and  form  a  general  partnership,  to  which  I  agreed. 
This  partnership  continued  and  prospered  until  1888,  when  Albert  Gore 
withdrew. 

"In  1892  Mr.  W.  I.  Gore  decided  to  give  up  active  business  and  with- 
drew, Albert  taking  his  place.  As  I  was  then  the  senior  partner,  the  style 
of  the  firm  was  changed  from  W.  I.  Gore  &  Co.  to  Corbett  &  Gore.  In 
1894,  on  account  of  failing  health  Albert  Gore  was  forced  to  give  up  active 
business  and  withdraw,  leaving  me  sole  proprietor  of  the  business.  In 
1901  I  had  the  business  incorporated  under  the  style  of  'The  Corbett 
Company.'  " 

This  meagre  statement  fails  to  give  the  impression  that,  by  this 
time,  Mr.  Corbett  had  amassed  a  considerable  fortune  and  was  one 
of  the  most  potent  factors  in  the  industrial  life  of  the  community. 

In  addition  to  the  successful  conduct  of  his  regular  business 
Mr.  Corbett  has  been  largely  instrumental  in  the  promotion,  or- 
ganization and  management  of  many  important  and  flourishing 
enterprises  in  the  city  of  Wilmington. 

He  is  vice-president  and  one  of  the  original  directors  of  the 
People's  Saving  Bank,  one  of  the  original  directors  of  the  Murchi- 


MICHAEL  J.  CORBETT  85 

son  National  Bank,  president  of  the  Wilmington,  Southport  and 
Little  River  Company,  member  of  the  firm  of  Stone  &  Company, 
and  one  of  the  board  of  managers  of  the  James  Walker  Memo- 
rial Hospital. 

While  not  a  politician  in  the  ordinary  acceptance  of  the  term, 
Mr.  Corbett  has  always  taken  a  lively  interest  in  public  affairs  and 
has  always  been  quick  to  respond  on  occasions,  such  as  the  splen- 
did movement  for  decent  government  in  1898,  to  calls  upon  his 
purse  or  person;  and  his  aid  and  counsel  have  generally  been 
sought  in  emergencies  and  never  refused. 

He  is  also  prominently  identified  with  the  social  life  of  the  city, 
being  a  member  of  all  the  oldest  and  most  exclusive  social  organi- 
zations, having  been  on  the  board  of  managers  of  the  Cape  Fear 
Club  for  many  years,  a  member  of  the  Carolina  Yacht  Club  and  of 
the  Cape  Fear  Golf  Club. 

In  1884  Mr.  Corbett  was  married  to  Miss  Mary  Josephine 
Deans,  and  to  her  inspiration  and  counsel  he  has  always  attributed 
in  large  measure  the  credit  for  his  success  in  life.  Their  union 
has  been  signally  blessed;  ten  children  have  been  born  to  them, 
nine  of  whom  are  still  living,  and  although  Mr.  Corbett,  possess- 
ing much  of  the  social  charm  for  which  the  sons  of  Erin  are 
justly  noted,  is  much  sought  after,  he  is  distinctly  a  family  man, 
and  it  is  in  his  home  circle  surrounded  by  family  and  troops  of 
friends  that  he  is  seen  at  his  best. 

He  has  paid  three  visits  to  his  parents  and  to  the  scenes  of  his 
childhood;  one  in  1887,  again  in  1892,  and  finally  in  1903  he  took 
over  his  oldest  two  daughters. 

Mr.  Corbett  is  a  member  of  the  Roman  Catholic  Church  and 
firm  in  his  adherence  to  its  principles.  He  takes  an  active  interest 
in  church  affairs  and  without  ostentation  is  very  liberal  in  the 
support  of  the  church  and  her  charities. 

George  Rountree. 


JOSEPH   JOHN   COX 

fOSEPH  JOHN  COX  was  the  second  child  of 
Jonathan  E.  and  EHzabeth  Hare  Cox,  and  was 
born  in  Northampton  County  in  I845.  His 
parents  were  prominent  members  of  the  Society 
of  Friends,  and  in  1859  were  employed  to  take 
charge  of  the  school  at  New  Garden  as  super- 
intendents, which  position  they  filled  for  many  years  with  great 
satisfaction  to  the  board  of  trustees. 

In  consequence  of  this  event,  the  education  of  Mr.  Cox  was 
obtained  at  New  Garden  Boarding  School  under  the  thoughtful 
religious  care  of  his  parents.  As  a  student  he  was  distinguished 
for  diligence  in  study,  sterling  integrity  of  character,  great  kind- 
ness, and  purity  of  life.  These  traits  that  marked  his  youth  by 
Christian  grace  were  developed  and  strengthened  from  year  to 
year  until  in  business,  in  church  pfifairs,  and  in  family  life  he 
was  known  as  a  man  of  wide  sympathies,  of  remarkable  strength 
and  symmetry  of  character,  tender-heartedness,  and  modesty  of 
pretension. 

Dr.  Cox  made  good  use  of  the  excellent  instruction  at  New 
Garden  School,  and  became  well  prepared  for  the  study  of  medi- 
cine, which  he  pursued  first  in  Cincinnati,  and  later  at  the  Jeffer- 
son Medical  College,  in  Philadelphia,  where  he  graduated  in  1871. 
As  a  physician  he  was  successful  and  greatly  beloved,  admin- 
istering to  physical  suffering  in  the  spirit  of  thi»  Great  Healer. 


JOSEPH  JOHN  COX  87 

On  account  of  the  strain  on  his  bodily  strength  he  gave  up,  in 
later  years,  the  practice  of  medicine,  and  engaged  with  energy 
and  great  ability  in  manufacturing  enterprises  in  the  city  of  High 
Point.  In  this,  as  in  every  other  undertaking  of  his  life,  he 
achieved  success,  and  was  esteemed  as  the  leading  citizen  of  his 
city.  He  served  many  years  as  mayor,  and  was  such  at  the  time 
of  his  death. 

Dr.  Cox  manifested  an  enthusiastic  interest  in  public  charities 
and  enterprises  of  all  sorts,  and  cooperated  by  personal  efifort 
and  by  donations  with  Christian  philanthropists,  and  was  a  lead- 
ing member  of  the  church  to  which  he  belonged,  the  Society  of 
Friends,  in  all  matters  pertaining  to  its  welfare.  His  ability  and 
interest  were  recognized  by  North  Carolina  Yearly  Meeting;  and 
his  service  for  twenty  years  as  a  member  of  the  board  of  trustees 
of  Guilford  College  was  greatly  appreciated,  he  having  served  for 
several  years  as  chairman  of  this  body,  occupying  this  position 
at  the  time  of  his  death.  He  had  at  heart  the  deepest  interest  in 
the  growth  and  usefulness  of  the  college,  subscribed  to  its  en-" 
,  dowment,  and  in  every  way  possible  sought  to  promote  its  influence 
for  good  in  North  Carolina.  Every  phase  of  Christian  activity 
appealed  to  him,  and  his  sympathy  was  not  circumscribed  by  any 
narrow  bounds  of  sect  or  of  country.  His  interest  was  world- 
wide. 

At  the  time  of  his  death,  which  occurred  in  his  fifty-eighth  year. 
Dr.  Cox  was  superintendent  of  a  Bible  school,  an  elder  in  the 
Friends'  Church,  in  which  capacity  he  had  served  for  several 
years,  treasurer  of  the  Foreign  Missionary  Board  of  North  Caro- 
lina Yearly  Meeting,  treasurer  of  the  largest  factory  in  High 
Point,  director  of  one  of  the  banks,  mayor  of  his  city,  and  chair- 
man of  the  board  of  trustees  of  Guilford  College,  in  all  of  which 
places  of  trust  he  was  conspicuous  for  ability  and  fidelity. 

While  possessing  superior  ability,  Dr.Cox  was  a  modest  man. 
He  did  not  advertise  himself;  he  did  not  seek  the  upper  seat  in 
public  assemblies.  There  was  no  self-display  in  his  nature.  He 
sought  the  golden  mean  between  extremes,  and  there  found  the 
path  of  duty  and  followed  it  to  the  end.     No  man  had  the  con- 


88 


NORTH  CAROLINA 


fidence  of  the  people  in  a  higher  degree  than  he.  His  counsel 
was  sought  in  business,  in  the  affairs  of  the  church  and  in  the 
private  life  of  those  who  needed  the  advice  of  a  sympathizing 
friend.  From  whatever  point  of  view  he  was  beheld,  Dr.  Cox 
stood  forth  as  the  upright  man,  conservative,  yet  progressive,  and, 
although  self-depreciative  rather  than  over-confident,  possessing 
that  quiet  dignity  and  strength  of  character  which,  coupled  with 
his  untiring  energy,  brought  to  pass  great  results. 

Although  rich  in  men  of  noble  character  and  great  achievements, 
our  State  may  well  take  a  just  pride  in  the  pure  and  lofty  soul  that 
animated  Dr.  Cox  throughout  his  life ;  for  an  example  of  self- 
control,  serenity  of  spirit,  and  spotless  character,  such  as  he  ex- 
hibited, is  a  rich  and  noble  heritage  which  deserves  to  be  handed 
down  to  posterity,  that  in  it  all  the  sons  and  daughters  of  our  be- 
loved State  may  be  permitted  to  share. 


L.  L.  Hobbs. 


o^ 


JONATHAN    ELWOOD    COX 


'  O  history  of  the  industrial  achievements  in  North 
Carohna  during  the  last  two  decades  would  be 
complete  without  the  name  of  J.  Elwood  Cox. 
It  is  to  be  noted  that,  in  addition  to  the  many 
successful  enterprises  and  various  movements 
projected  in  the  industrial  circles  of  this  State 
with  which  he  has  been  prominently  and  actively  connected,  his 
church  and  the  great  cause  of  education  have  found  in  him  an 
ardent  and  generous  supporter.  A  life  which  has  so  impressed 
itself  as  to  win  title  to  preeminence  among  those  who  have 
wrought  so  successfully  for  themselves  and  their  communities  in 
the  strenuous  life  of  the  past  twenty-five  years  must,  of  necessity, 
furnish  some  lessons  worthy  of  study. 

He  is  of  sturdy  English  lineage.  Joseph  Cox,  who  came  from 
England  and  built  a  home  in  the  county  of  Perquimans,  was  his 
earliest  known  ancestor  in  this  State.  This  godly  man  was  both 
a  teacher  and  a  preacher.  He  held  the  faith  of  the  humble  Quakers 
of  that  day,  and  was  one  of  the  pioneers  in  the  promulgation  of 
its  simple  tenets  in  that  and  the  neighboring  counties  of  the  tide- 
water section  of  North  Carolina.  He  was  the  great-grandfather 
of  the  subject  of  this  sketch. 

Another  great-grandfather  was  William  Rogerson,  who  early 
enlisted  in  the  Revolutionary  War,  and  was  a  gallant  soldier. 
He  was  with  Arnold    in    his  celebrated    and    desperate    move- 


90  NORTH  CAROLINA 

ment  on  Canada  in  177S,  and  was  wounded  in  the  assault  on 
Quebec. 

In  the  neighboring  county  of  Northampton  J.  Elwood  Cox  was 
bom  on  the  ist  day  of  November,  1856.  His  father,  Jonathan  E. 
Cox,  was  likewise  a  teacher  and  an  adherent  of  the  Quaker  faith. 
In  1858  he  quit  his  Northampton  farm  to  accept  the  position  of 
superintendent  of  the  Quaker  school  at  New  Garden,  in  Guilford 
County,  which  he  successfully  conducted  for  many  years  prior 
to  its  development  and  change  into  Guilford  College.  He  was  at 
the  helm  and  was  the  main  stay  of  this  school  in  its  darkest  hours. 
From  1858  until  his  death  he  was  a  pillar  of  strength  in  his  church 
and  contributed  generously  of  his  time,  labor  and  means  to  the 
cause  of  education  throughout  the  entire  State.  His  was  the 
simple  life  of  the  farm,  on  which  he  reared  and  trained  his  boys 
under  the  rigid  regulations  of  farm  government.  But  the  school 
and  the  church  were  the  field  in  which  were  displayed  the  purity 
and  the  strength  of  his  real  character  and  the  lofty  ideals  of  his 
life.  In  private  and  in  public  place  he  stood  for  the  things  that 
are  pure,  true,  just,  honest,  lovely  and  of  good  report.  His  char- 
acter was  the  embodiment  of  the  virtues  of  the  model  citizen.  He 
wore,  in  the  language  of  Tennyson,  "the  white  flower  of  a  blame- 
less life."  The  alumni,  students  and  friends  of  Guilford  College 
should  yet  cut  and  hew  from  the  enduring  granite  of  his  native 
State  a  monument  and  place  it  on  the  beautiful  campus  of  the 
college  in  honor  of  his  good  name  and  sainted  memory. 

The  son,  Elwood,  was  less  than  two  years  of  age  when  he  was 
transplanted  from  Northampton  to  the  Guilford  County  farm,  on 
which  he  was  reared  and  trained  in  the  habits  of  a  simple  and  in- 
dustrious life.  The  habits  of  steady,  systematic  work  and  the  ro- 
bust health  there  acquired  were  the  groundwork  of  his  successful 
career.  The  farm  was  the  athletic  field  on  which  were  developed 
his  physical  powers. 

During  these  years  he  completed  the  course  of  study  at  Guil- 
ford College  (then  New  Garden),  after  which  he  pursued  for  a 
year  a  business  course  in  a  business  college  of  Baltimore.  While 
attending  the  Baltimore  college,  he  felt  for  the  first  time  the  touch 


JONATHAN  ELWOOD  COX  91 

and  pulse  of  the  outside  world  and  realized  the  necessity  of  a 
better  and  higher  education.  After  this  he  spent  one  year  in 
teaching  and  study.  During  the  years  of  1874-75  he  attended 
Earlham  College,  at  Richmond,  Ind.,  where  he  completed  his 
collegiate  course.  In  1876  he  entered  into  the  serious  battle  of 
life,  starting  as  a  travelling  salesman  for  one  of  the  Guilford 
County  nurseries,  and  by  frugal  habits  and  strenuous  work  soon 
succeeded  in  the  accumulation  of  several  thousand  dollars.  On 
the  23d  day  of  October,  1878,  he  was  married  to  Miss  Bertha  E. 
Snow,  the  only  daughter  of  Captain  William  H.  Snow,  the  founder 
and  father  of  the  real  High  Point,  to  which  place  he  moved  in 
the  year  of  1880.  The  issue  of  this  marriage  is  one  daughter. 
This  union  proved  to  be  a  most  important  and  fortunate  turn- 
ing-point in  his  life.  It  led  him  into  contact  with  that  sterling, 
aggressive  and  progressive  citizen.  Captain  Snow,  who  was  the 
original  pioneer  in  the  hardwood  industry  of  North  Carolina. 
His  quick  eye  was  not  slow  in  foreseeing  the  future  in  this  line 
of  manufacturing.  Shortly  after  his  removal  to  High  Point  Mr. 
Cox  erected  a  small  factory  for  the  manufacture  of  shuttle  blocks 
and  bobbin  heads.  It  was  at  that  time  a  new  industry.  Prior  to 
this  the  farmer  of  the  Piedmont  belt  had  attached  no  value  what- 
ever to  the  persimmon,  dogwood,  the  hickory,  the  oak  and  other 
growing  timber,  and  had  annually  destroyed  them  by  fire  in  order 
to  put  them  out  of  his  way.  It  is  no  wonder  now  that  his  business 
from  the  beginning  was  a  success  beyond  his  most  sanguine 
anticipations,  and  has  largely  assisted  in  bringing  to  High  Point 
the  second  largest  pay-roll  in  the  State.  He  extended  his  opera- 
tions as  his  business  developed  and  increased,  and  step  by  step 
laid  the  foundations  of  the  great  business  which  has  grown  and 
expanded  until  it  covers,  through  its  branch  plants,  nearly  every 
State  of  the  South,  and  until  its  finished  product  reaches  nearly 
every  country  of  Europe.  This  great  4vork  of  Mr.  Cox  was  so 
quietly  done  that  it  had  brought  him  a  fortune  before  the  public 
had  recognized  or  appreciated  the  size  or  significance  of  this  great 
industry.  So  firmly  has  he  established  his  business  and  so  wisely 
has  he  extended  its  operations  that  he  now  supplies  the  demand 


92  NORTH  CAROLINA 

of  nearly  the  entire  world  for  shuttle  blocks.  This  demand  long 
ago  exceeded  the  capacity  of  his  plant  at  High  Point  and  made 
necessary  the  establishment  of  a  number  of  plants  throughout 
the  Southern  States.  The  successful  operation  of  these  plants 
and  the  handling  of  their  products  has  not  only  given  Mr.  Cox 
a  reputation  at  home  and  abroad,  but  it  has  brought  a  large 
amount  of  money  to  his  immediate  section  of  the  State. 

The  remarkable  success  of  Mr.  Cox  in  this  one  great  industry 
has  enabled  him  to  be  of  great  service  to  his  community  and  his 
State  in  other  fields  of  activity.  Scarcely  less  important  has  been 
his  work  along  other  lines.  It  was  in  the  latter  part  of  the  year 
'88  and  in  the  early  part  of  the  year  '89  that  he,  in  conjunction  with 
less  than  half  a  dozen  citizens  of  his  own  town,  and  with  a  few 
leading  citizens  of  Randolph,  resolved  to  secure  the  location  and 
construction  of  a  railroad  from  High  Point  to  Asheboro.  There 
was  no  more  active  spirit  in  that  enterprise  than  Mr.  Cox.  The 
result  of  that  movement  was  a  charter  and  the  creation  and  or- 
ganization of  the  High  Point,  Randleman,  Asheboro  &  Southern 
Railway  Company,  and  the  construction  of  that  railroad,  which 
was  put  into  operation  in  July,  1889.  Mr.  Cox  was  one  of  the  first 
directors  of  that  railroad  company,  and  has  been  a  director  of 
the  same  continuously  since  its  organization.  For  years  he  has 
served  as  one  of  the  executive  committee  of  this  company. 

In  1 89 1,  when  the  new  life  and  the  constantly  expanding  busi- 
ness of  High  Point  demanded  greater  banking  facilities,  Mr.  Cox 
was  the  leading  spirit  in  the  organization  and  establishment  of 
the  Commercial  National  Bank  of  that  place,  and  in  recognition 
of  his  public  spirit  and  fine  business  qualifications  the  stockholders 
thereof,  at  their  first  meeting,  elected  him  president  of  the  same, 
which  position  he  has  held  continuously  for  fourteen  years.  Un- 
der his  directing  genius  the  Commercial  has  grown  into  one  of 
the  safest,  strongest  and  most  successful  financial  institutions  of 
the  country. 

Mr.  Cox  was  also  one  of  those  who  originated  and  kunched  the 
Home  Furniture  Company — one  of  the  first  and  most  successful 
furniture  plants  of  his  town.    He  was  also  a  charter  shareholder 


JONATHAN  ELWOOD  COX  93 

in  the  creation  and  organization  of  the  Globe  Furniture  Company — 
another  large  plant  established  for  the  manufacture  of  the  higher 
grades  of  furniture.  The  conception  of  the  idea  of  a  consolida- 
tion of  the  Home  and  the  Globe  into  one  company — the  Globe- 
Home  Furniture  Company —  making  it  the  largest  furniture  plant 
in  the  South,  with  a  paid-up  cash  capital  of  $175,000.00,  originated 
in  his  fertile  brain.  He  is  and  has  been,  since  the  said  consolida- 
tion, president  of  this  company,  and  has  contributed  much  to  its 
great  success. 

Mr.  Cox  is  also  a  director  of  the  Greensboro  Loan  and  Trust 
Company,  one  of  the  strongest  financial  institutions  of  Greensboro, 
whose  deposits  now  approach  the  two  million  mark,  and  likewise 
president  of  the  Southern  Car  Works  of  High  Point,  and  several 
other  industrial  and  manufacturing  companies  in  his  own  and 
other  towns. 

This  crude  sketch  conveys  but  a  vague  idea  of  his  busy  life, 
and  is  the  merest  outline  of  that  part  of  his  life-work  with  which 
the  public  is  more  or  less  familiar.  Separately  and  alone  he  has 
invested  much  of  his  accumulations  along  lines  which  are  telling 
in  the  uplifting  and  upbuilding  of  his  town.  The  Elwood  Hotel 
of  High  Point — one  of  the  handsomest  structures,  and  one  of 
the  most  attractive  and  creditable  hotels  of  this  State — is  a  strik- 
ing proof  of  his  public  spirit.  A  beautiful  home  and  numerous 
other  handsome  edifices  bear  witness  to  the  fact  that  his  money  is 
not  idle,  and  in  numberless  ways  has  contributed ,  to  the  sub- 
stantial growth  and  extension  of  his  home  town. 

Aside  from  these  monuments  which  line  the  way  of  his  strenu- 
ous business  life,  his  left  hand  has  not  known  what  his  right  hand 
has  done  along  more  modest  lines  for  the  real  weal  and  better- 
ment of  his  fellow-men.  He  is  the  executive  head  of  the  local 
school  board,  and  has  led  in  all  movements  having  for  their  object 
the  increase  of  school  facilities  and  the  extension  of  educational 
advantages  to  every  child  of  his  town.  Outside  of  his  own  com- 
munity his  efforts  have  been  equally  noteworthy  in  generous 
contributions  to  the  great  educational  awakening  in  North  Caro- 
lina.   As  chairman  of  the  board  of  trustees  of  Guilford  College, 


94  NORTH  CAROLINA 

and  as  treasurer  of  the  Guilford  College  Endowment  Fund,  he 
has  rendered  invaluable  aid  in  the  financial  support  of  that  in- 
stitution. No  man  in  or  out  of  his  church  has  labored  more 
diligentl}-  or  more  effectively  for  an  ample  endowment  of  his 
Alma  Mater.  In  the  affairs  of  that  institution  his  wise  counsel 
and  generous  hand  respond  to  every  emergency.  In  all  plans  for 
its  enlargement  and  improvement  he  invests  the  same  energy  of 
thought  and  diligent  tenacity  of  purpose  that  he  does  in  looking 
for  dividends  from  his  own  private  affairs.  It  is  no  secret,  or,  if 
it  is,  it  need  not  longer  be,  that  through  his  diplomacy  and  tactful 
efforts  large  accessions  to  the  endowment  fund  have  been  secured. 
His  colleagues  on  the  board  are  authority  for  the  statement  that 
he  is  never  too  busy  to  meet  any  draft  which  this  institution,  en- 
deared by  the  memories  of  his  boyhood  and  hallowed  by  the 
sacrifices  of  his  sainted  father,  draws  upon  his  time  or  his  purse. 

But  the  money  value  of  the  life  of  J.  Elwood  Cox  is  not  its 
only  value.  There  is  another  side  to  this  busy  life,  so  prolific  in 
results.  It  has  assets  other  than  the  dollars  coined  through  strenu- 
ous toil.  It  is  paying  dividends  other  than  those  covered  by  the 
semi-annual  check.  It  is  floating  bonds  other  than  those  whose 
coupons  are  clipped  and  counted  on  the  cold  deposit  slip.  Its 
earliest  investment  was  under  the  guidance  of  parental  love.  Its 
sheet  anchor  is  that  of  the  church  of  the  father  and  the  mother 
who  were  of  the  salt  of  the  earth.  The  wayward  steps  of  youth 
we're  shadowed  by  its  tender  benedictions.  In  the  devious  and 
unballasted  ways  of  manhood,  when  lured  by  the  siren  haunts 
of  lust  and  mammon,  its  pole-star  is  still  the  church.  The  real  secret 
then  of  the  success  of  Mr.  Cox  may  be  found  in  the  simple,  frugal 
habits  of  his  life,  moulded  and  patterned  in  conformity  to  the 
simple  tenets  of  his  church,  and  after  the  manner  of  the  pure 
home  life  of  his  Christian  parents. 

It  has  fallen  to  the  lot  of  this  writer  in  the  rapidly  shifting  vi- 
cissitudes of  this  life  to  know  something  of  many  men  of  this 
generation,  and  among  the  uncounted  number  he  has  never  known 
a  cleaner  life  than  that  of  J.  Elwood  Cox.  During  a  personal  ac- 
quaintance covering  more  than  a  quarter  of  a  century,  and  ap- 


JONATHAN  ELWOOD  COX  95 

proaching  intimacy  in  many  things  wherein  there  was  no  need  for 
veil,  there  never  fell  from  his  lips  anywhere  or  at  any  time  a 
syllable  which  could  not  have  been  uttered  in  the  presence  of  his 
devoted  wife.  His  deeds,  too,  are  as  chaste  as  his  language.  In 
thought,  in  word  and  in  daily  walk  his  life  is  as  pure  as  that  of 
a  woman.  It  is  neither  marked  nor  marred  by  the  taint  of  to- 
bacco or  the  use  of  any  stimulant.  This  is  so  rare  in  the  average 
life  of  the  commercial  world,  where  men  grow  wild  and  reckless 
in  the  mad  pursuit  of  filthy  lucre,  that  it  needs  to  be  told  and 
preserved  on  record.  It  is  not  to  be  claimed  that  the  life  of  J. 
Elwood  Cox  is  perfect,  but  among  the  many  portraits  which  adorn 
the  pages  of  these  interesting  volumes  there  is  not  one  which  will 
hold  its  own  longer  under  the  white  light  of  inspection  than  this 
imperfect  portraiture. 

G.  S.  Bradshaw. 


DAVID  IRVIN   CRAIG 


fHE  Reverend  David  Irvin  Craig  was  born  in 
Orange  County,  North  Carolina,  February  ii, 
1849.  His  ancestors  on  both  sides  were  of  the 
sturdy  Scotch-Irish  stock.  They  emigrated 
to  this  country  in  1747,  after  the  disastrous 
battle  of  Culloden.  Landing  at  Philadelphia, 
they  located  and  lived  for  a  short  time  in  Pennsylvania,  and  were 
under  the  ministry  of  the  Reverend  James  Campbell.  They  left 
Pennsylvania  about  the  year  1749  and  came  direct  to  North 
Carolina,  refusing  to  stop  in  Virginia,  because,  as  they  said,  "We 
have  had  enough  of  Popery  and  Churches  established  by  law." 
They  first  located  in  the  old  "Haw  Fields,"  in  Orange  County, 
but -finding  that  the  titles  to  the  lands  were  in  dispute,  they  re- 
moved to  the  waters  of  "New  Hope,"  in  Orange  County,  and 
permanently  located  between  Hillsboro  and  Chapel-Hill,  about 
the  year  1752;  and  to  this  day  portions  of  the  lands  purchased 
from  the  Earl  of  Granville,  under  the  reign  of  King  George,  to- 
gether with  the  deeds,  are  still  in  the  possession  of  the  family. 
One  of  their  first  acts  was  the  erection,  about  1760,  of  a  Presby- 
terian church,  which  they  called  "New  Hope."  This  church  still 
lives  in  a  fairly  prosperous  condition,  and  the  building  now  oc- 
cupied is  the  fourth  since  1760. 

The  first  known  ancestor  of  the  subject  of  this  sketch  was 
William  Craig,  who    was    born    in    Scotland,  but  emigrated  to 


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DAVID  IRVIN  CRAIG  97 

America  from  Ireland.  His  wife  was  the  "widow  Long,"  whose 
maiden  name  was  Margaret  Logan.  They  had  four  sons  and  one 
daughter,  all  of  whom  were  born  in  the  "Old  Country."  The 
names  of  the  sons  were  John,  David,  Samuel  and  James.  David 
was  an  officer  in  the  Revolutionary  War  and  died  in  1785.  He 
has  many  descendants  in  Tennessee  and  in  the  Western  States. 
His  wife  and  children  settled  on  lands  in  Maury  County,  Tennes- 
see, received  as  pay  for  his  Revolutionary  services.  His  brother, 
James  Craig,  was  a  private  soldier  in  the  Revolutionary  War,  and 
was  the  great-grandfather  of  Reverend  D.  I.  Craig.  This  man, 
James  Craig,  married  Rebecca  Beall.  They  had  four  sons  and 
four  daughters.  The  name  of  one  of  these  four  sons  was  David 
Wilson  Craig,  who  married  Isabel  Nelson,  of  the  "Haw  Fields ;" 
and  these  were  the  parents  of  James  Newton  Craig,  the  father  of 
Reverend  D.  I.  Craig. 

Mr.  James  Newton  Craig  was  a  farmer,  mechanic  and  magis- 
trate, a  man  of  influence  in  his  community,  of  strong  mind  and 
high  spirit,  methodical  in  his  habits,  and  of  a  lofty  sense  of  honor. 
His  wife  was  Mary  Emiline  Strayhorn,  a  daughter  of  Major 
Samuel  Strayhorn  and  Mary  Moore,  and  a  granddaughter  of 
William  Strayhorn,  son  of  Gilbert,  who  was  severely  wounded 
in  the  battle  of  the  Cowpens.  This  lady,  the  mother  of  Reverend 
D.  I.  Craig,  is  still  living  at  the  ripe  old  age  of  eighty-two,  and 
her  influence  upon  the  intellectual,  and  especially  upon  the  moral 
and  spiritual,  life  of  her  children  has  been  very  marked. 

In  his  country  home  young  Craig  learned  industry  and  self- 
dependence  by  hard  manual  labor,  working  on  the  farm  with  the 
slaves  during  the  Civil  War.  Books  were  the  delight  of  his  leisure 
moments,  the  love  of  learning  developing  early  and  inspiring  him 
to  overcome  the  difficulties  arising  from  the  disastrous  results  of 
the  Civil  War  in  the  way  of  securing  an  education. ,  In  1867  he 
entered  Hughes'  Academy,  at  Cedar  Grove,  N.  C,  and  after  sev- 
eral enforced  interruptions  completed  in  1874  a  four  years'  course 
of  study  under  the  careful  instruction  of  the  then  well-known 
educator  in  Middle  North  Carolina,  Samuel  W.  Hughes. 

In  1874-5  he  was  a  student  at  Davidson  College,  and  in  1878 


98  NORTH  CAROLINA 

graduated  from  the  Theological  Seminary  of  Columbia,  S.  C. 
On  May  31st  of  the  same  year  he  was  licensed  to  preach  the  Gospel 
by  Orange  Presbytery  in  Greensboro,  N.  C. 

On  July,  6,  1878,  he  began  his  ministry  at  Reidsville,  N.  C,  soon 
after  the  death  of  his  lamented  predecessor,  the  Reverend  Jacob 
Doll.  The  Reidsville  Presbyterian  Church  at  that  time  numbered 
only  thirty-five  members,  and  Bethsaida  and  Oak  Forest  Churches 
were  grouped  with  it  in  one  pastorate.  On  June  i,  1879,  Mr. 
Craig  was  formally  ordained  pastor  at  Reidsville,  and  for  nearly 
twenty-seven  years  he  has  served  this  church.  During  this  time 
he  has  received  and  declined  a  number  of  calls  and  overtures  to 
other  fields  of  labor.  Though  greatly  bereaved  by  death  and 
afflicted  financially,  the  church  has  enjoyed  a  steady  and  healthy 
growth  under  his  long  pastorate,  there  having  been  added  to  its 
roll  nearly  400  names,  an  average  of  more  than  fourteen  per  year. 

On  September  7,  1881,  Mr.  Craig  was  most  happily  married 
to  Miss  Isabel  Gertrude  Newman,  of  Columbia,  S.  C.  She  was 
born  in  the  city  of  Baltimore,  Md.,  and  is  a  daughter  of  Joseph 
Newman  and  Joanna  Burke,  who  being  ardent  Southerners,  re- 
moved from  Baltimore  to  Columbia  at  the  beginning  of  the  Civil 
War.  Beautiful  in  person  and  character,  of  a  sunny  spirit  and  in 
fullest  sympathy  with  his  ministerial  work,  she  has  been  to  him  an 
ideal  helpmate.  Their  home,  blessed  with  four  children,  is  a 
most  happy  and  hospitable  one. 

As  a  preacher  and  theologian  Mr.  Craig  is  well  equipped,  con- 
servative, and  thoroughly  orthodox.  He  believes  with  all  his  heart 
that  the  whole  Bible  is  the  Word  of  God,  and  preaches  it  with 
an  authority  and  assurance  born  of  absolute  conviction.  His 
sermons  are  richly  instructive  and  evangelical,  well  arranged,  and 
clearly  expressed.  His  delivery  is  earnest  and  animated,  his 
prayers  humble  and  fervent.  His  whole  bearing  in  the  pulpit  is 
characterized  by  that  persuasive  blending  of  solemnity  and  ten- 
derness which  marks  the  true  ambassador  of  Jesus  Christ,  which 
we  can  explain  and  describe  only  by  that  sacred  but  much  abused 
word,  unction.  With  a  cautious  and  conservative  temper,  a  horror 
of  the  sensational,  and  a  deep  aversion  to  controversy,  Mr.  Craig 


DAVID  IRVIN  CRAIG  99 

combines  high  spirit,  warm  feeHngs,  and  strong  convictions, 
which  on  proper  occasions  he  never  hesitates  to  declare  and 
defend. 

His  popularity  and  usefulness  have  not  been  confined  to  one 
town  or  congregation.  For  many  years  he  was  the  efficient  agent 
of  Home  Missions  in  Orange  Presbytery,  and  a  member  also  of 
the  Home  Mission  Committee  of  the  North  Carolina  Synod.  By 
the  Synod  he  was  elected  sixteen  years  ago  one  of  the  original 
ten  Regents  of  the  Synod's  Orphans'  Home,  which  office  he  still 
holds.  In  the  eminent  success  of  this  noble  institution  Mr.  Craig's 
administrative  fidelity  and  wisdom  have  been  a  continuous  factor. 
For  ten  years  he  has  been  the  Stated  Clerk  of  Orange  Presbytery, 
and  for  five  years  the  Stated  Clerk  of  the  Synod  of  North  Caro- 
lina. His  industry  and  courtesy,  his  mastery  of  ecclesiastical 
forms  and  precedents,  his  habits  of  neatness,  accuracy  and  method, 
combine  to  make  him  in  both  these  responsible  positions  the  ideal 
clerk. 

In  1891  he  published  in  pamphlet  form  a  "History  of  New  Hope 
Church,"  containing  the  fruit  of  much  careful  research  into  the 
early  family  history  of  Orange  County,  and  constituting  a  work 
which  the  future  historian  of  the  county  and  the  State  will  prize. 
A  few  years  later,  by  request  of  Orange  Presbytery,  he  prepared, 
as  Chairman  of  a  Revision  Committee,  an  elaborate  Manual  of 
Orange  Presbytery,  embodying  a  vast  amount  of  information  and 
eliciting  the  warm  commendation  of  his  fellow-Presbyters.  On 
July  I,  1902,  he  delivered  as  an  address  before  the  Biblical  and 
Evangelistic  Institute  at  Davidson  College  a  "Summary  of  Pres- 
byterianism  in  North  Carolina."  This  was  published  in  the 
Presbyterian  Standard  of  July  9  and  16,  1902,  and  is  a  most  valu- 
able historical  treatise,  clear  in  arrangement,  accurate  in  detail, 
and  showing,  especially  in  the  earlier  portions,  Mr.  Craig's  marked 
taste  and  aptitude  for  historical  research. 

But  it  is  probably  as  a  man  and  a  pastor  that  Mr.  Craig  has 
done  his  greatest  work  in  the  world,  a  work  that  in  the  nature 
of  the  case  cannot  be  tabulated.  He  is  such  a  golden-hearted  Chris- 
tian gentleman,  so  modest,  so  true,  so  brave  and  brotherly  and 


loo  NORTH  CAROLINA 

unselfish,  so  devoted  to  whatsoever  things  are  honest  and  lovely 
and  of  good  report,  so  consecrated  to  his  Master,  that  his  influence 
on  all  around  him,  though  like  the  sunlight,  silent,  has  yet  been  like 
it,  powerful,  fructifying,  blessed.  Though  a  wise  and  experienced 
counsellor  in  the  courts  of  his  church,  3'et  his  highest  usefulness 
even  there  has  been  perhaps  the  unconscious  influence  upon  his 
brethren  of  his  courtesy  and  fairness  in  debate,  his  nobility  and 
gentleness  of  spirit,  his  charity  in  judging  others,  his  freedom 
from  self-seeking,  his  loyalty  to  his  convictions  of  truth  and  duty. 

In  the  homes  of  his  congregation,  and  of  numberless  families 
of  other  or  no  ecclesiastical  connections,  he  has  been  the  faithful 
pastor,  the  welcome  friend,  the  loving  comforter  and  guide. 

On  July  5,  1903,  the  twenty-fifth  anniversary  of  his  pastorate 
was  celebrated  in  Reidsville.  His  devoted  friend  and  fellow- 
Presbyter,  the  Reverend  Egbert  W.  Smith,  D.D.,  pastor  of  the 
First  Presbyterian  Church  of  Greensboro,  N.  C,  presided  and 
delivered  the  address.  Notwithstanding  the  chairs  that  lined  the 
aisles,  and  were  placed  in  every  available  spot  to  add  to  the  seat- 
ing capacity  of  the  church,  numbers  had  to  remain  outside  unable 
to  enter.  Services  in  other  churches  were  suspended,  and  nearly 
all  Reidsville  turned  out,  regardless  of  age,  sex,  or  denomination, 
to  testify  its  love  and  admiration.  After  Dr.  Smith  had  spoken 
with  warmest  appreciation  of  Mr.  Craig's  character  and  work,  an 
experience  meeting  was  held,  and  from  ministers  and  members 
of  his  own  and  other  denominations  came  spontaneous  and  most 
loving  tributes  to  his  worth.  In  telling  of  the  good  he  had  done 
to  them  strong  men  faltered  and  broke  down,  overcome  with 
emotion.  It  was  a  memorable  and  touching  scene,  honorable 
alike  to  the  good  people  of  Reidsville  and  to  their  eminent  fellow- 
citizen.  For  twenty-five  years  he  had  borne  among  them  the 
white  flower  of  a  blameless  life,  and  how  many  homes  and  hearts 
its  fragrance  had  sweetened  and  blessed  eternity  alone  can  reveal. 
If  the  spirits  of  the  saints  in  glory  are  permitted  to  revisit  the 
scenes  and  friends  of  their  earthly  life,  then  surely  the  house  that 
day  was  bright  with  the  presence  of  those  who  had  gone  up 
thence,  and  who  from  beholding  the  King  in  His  beauty  had  re- 


DAVID  IRVIN  CRAIG 


lOI 


turned  to  look  again  upon  the  face  of  that  beloved  pastor,  whose 
ministrations  had  been  their  guide  in  life,  their  comfort  in  death, 
and  are  to-day  their  grateful  memory  in  heaven. 

Mr.  Craig  is  yet  in  the  mellow  prime  of  life,  with  possibly  his 
best  work  yet  before  him.  Long  may  it  be  before  the  Master  calls 
him  to  that  upper  realm  where  instant  vision  shall  be  perfect  joy 
and  immortal  labor  shall  be  immortal  rest. 

Egbert  W.  Smith. 


BRAXTON  CRAVEN 


HE  life  of  Braxton  Craven  is  an  emphatic  denial 
of  the  oft-repeated  sentiment  that  North  Caro- 
Hna  is  not  favorable  to  the  growth  of  self-made 
men.  That  this  distinguished  educator  and 
preacher  was  a  man  in  the  highest  sense  of  the 
word  is  a  fact  recognized  by  thousands.  That 
he  was  "self-made"  cannot  be  doubted  by  any  who  are  acquainted 
with  his  life-struggle,  which  lifted  him  from  the  plane  of  an  ob- 
scure farmer  boy,  without  ancestral  prestige  and  social  advantages, 
to  that  of  a  masterful  educational  and  religious  leader. 

Every  man  who  rises  into  an  enviable  prominence  must  be  an 
apt  student  in  one  of  two  schools.  He  must  study  nature  in  its 
physical  aspects,  or  study  what  is  called  human  nature.  Hence 
the  farm  and  the  schoolroom  are  the  principal  arenas  in  which  the 
elements  of  greatness  are  born  and  nurtured. 

Braxton  Craven  enjoyed  rare  and  ample  opportunities  in  both 
schools.  As  a  boy  on  the  farm  he  came  in  inspiring  contact  with 
nature,  and  during  a  life  of  over  threescore  years  he  never  lost 
the  thrill  of  that  inspiration  with  which  every  inhabitant  of  God's 
"out-of-doors"  is  well  acquainted.  As  a  teacher  from  his  seven- 
teenth year  he  studied  all  the  suggestive  intricacies  and  problems 
of  human  nature,  heeding  all  its  warnings  and  obeying  all  its  sug- 
gestions. 

He  was  born  August  22,  1822,  among  the  bold  and  picturesque 


BRAXTON   CRAVEN  103 

hills  of  Randolph  County.  It  is  fortunate  that  he  found  himself 
in  his  earliest  years  an  inmate  of  the  home  of  that  honest,  God- 
fearing farmer,  Nathan  Cox,  whose  type  impressed  itself  strongly 
on  that  whole  section. 

In  this  home  young  Braxton  played  the  part  of  an  obedient  son, 
never  shirking  work,  but  ever  striving  to  make  himself  useful. 
There  was  one  yearly  occasion  which  carried  the  eager,  inquisi- 
tive boy  out  of  his  little  circumscribed  world,  and  that  was  when 
he  went  with  the  wagons  to  Fayetteville,  then  one  of  the  most 
prosperous  towns  in  the  State.  On  one  of  these  trips  he  came  into 
possession  of  his  first  book,  an  ordinary  spelling-book.  He  found 
it  full  of  voices  calling  him  onward.  An  intense  mental  thirst 
seized  him.  To  change  the  figure,  it  was  as  if  a  spark  had  dropped 
into  the  boy's  magazine.  It  is  not  strange  that,  shortly  after- 
ward, he  became  an  avid  pupil  in  the  neighborhood  school.  He 
drank  in  facts  as  the  flower  drinks  in  the  dew.  No  amount  of 
physical  labor  during  the  day  could  destroy  the  charm  of  mental 
exercise  at  night  in  the  glow  of  the  lightwood  knot.  The  ele- 
mentary branches  of  an  English  education  were  to  him  a 
Sybarite's  feast. 

It  was  not  long  before  the  masterful  element  in  the  mind- 
hungry  boy  asserted  itself  in  the  determination  to  become  a 
teacher.  At  the  age  of' sixteen  he  began  to  teach  a  small  sub- 
scription school  in  the  neighborhood.  He  so  thoroughly  mas- 
tered Pike's  Arithmetic  that  he  made  a  manuscript  which  con- 
tained the  solution  of  every  problem  in  the  book.  And  he  was 
only  a  boy  of  sixteen !  While  he  taught  his  pupils  the  elementary 
branches  he  himself  was  climbing  high  on  the  hills  of  knowledge^ 
drinking  of  every  fountain.  About  this  time  he  was  converted 
and  became  an  active  and  zealous  member  of  the  Methodist  Epis- 
copal Church.  In  1840  he  was  licensed  to  preach.  The  "boy 
preacher"  became  the  wonder  of  the  community. 

It  was  not  long  before  he  became  a  pupil  in  the  Quaker  school 
at  New  Garden.  He  attended  two  sessions  of  nine  months  each. 
Here  he  studied  Latin  and  Greek  and  Philosophy.  He  actually 
memorized  the  whole  of  Abercrombie's  Philosophy,  and  wrote 


I04  NORTH  CAROLINA 

out  Latin  translations  and  the  solutions  of  problems  in  higher 
mathematics.  Having  completed  the  course  at  New  Garden,  he 
accepted  a  position  as  assistant  teacher  in  Union  Institute.  This 
school  was  taught  in  a  small  house  near  the  site  of  the  present 
college  buildings  at  "Old  Trinity."  After  working  as  assistant  for 
two  years  he  succeeded  Dr.  Brantley  York  as  principal. 

On  September  26,  1844,  he  was  united  in  marriage  to  Miss 
Irene  Leach,  of  Randolph  County,  and  their  union  proved  most 
happy.  There  were  four  children:  Emma,  James  L.,  William 
and  Kate.    All  except  the  last  named  are  dead. 

In  January,  1851,  the  institution  was  rechartered  by  the  Legis- 
lature and  became  the  Normal  College.  Its  work  was  the  prepara- 
tion of  high-grade  teachers.  The  year  before  the  young  principal 
had  stood  a  thorough  examination,  and  had  received  his  diploma 
from  Randolph  Macon  College.  To  show  that  he  deserved  this 
diploma,  it  is  sufficient  to  state  that  he  got  into  a  dispute  with  the 
professor  of  mathematics  over  the  correct  solution  of  a  problem 
in  calculus,  and  won  the  victory  over  the  professor.  In  1852 
he  received  the  degree  of  A.  M.  from  the  University  of  North 
Carolina.  Later  he  received  the  degree  of  D.  D.  from  Andrew 
College,  Tennessee,  and  LL.  D.  from  the  University  of  Missouri, 
the  chancellorship  of  which  was  offered  to  him  in  later  years. 

When  Union  Institute  became  the  Normal  College,  Braxton 
Craven  climbed  another  round  on  the  ladder  of  his  life's  purpose. 
The  ascension  gave  him  sincere  pleasure,  yet  it  was  then  that  the 
iron  began  to  enter  his  soul.  Against  the  most  fearful  odds,  but 
with  a  sublime  faith,  he  had  begun  to  make  an  institution  which 
should  measure  up  to  the  requirements  of  a  great  State  and  to 
the  stern,  vigorous  demands  of  his  own  high  ideal.  Having  com- 
menced such  a  task,  he  must  pay  the  price.  He  must  meet  in- 
difference, face  prejudice,  combat  opposition,  struggle  with  pov- 
erty, and,  at  the  same  time,  wear  that  smile  which  is  worn  only 
by  the  great  soul  working  to  the  consummation  of  a  grand 
purpose. 

The  history  of  Trinity  College  is  the  history  of  Braxton  Craven. 
His  life-blood  flows  through  every  vein  and  artery  of  the  institu- 


BRAXTON  CRAVEN  105 

tion.  It  began  to  flow  away  back  in  the  days  of  Union  Institute. 
Trinity  is  a  great  college  now,  the  wealthiest  and  most  influential 
south  of  the  Potomac.  Who  will  say  that  those  currents  are  not 
flowing  still  ?  Since  that  dark  November  day  when  Craven  ceased 
from  his  earthly  labors  great  minds  and  hearts  have  emptied  their 
richest  resources  into  the  life  of  the  college.  Yet,  after  all,  the 
institution  represents  the  life  of  its  great  founder.  Through 
classroom  and  campus  his  presence  is  felt ;  over  towers  and  dome 
his  spirit  seems  to  brood ;  and  in  all  the  endeavors  and  achieve- 
ments of  the  institution  bis  influence  still  abides. 

The  first  connection  between  the  college  and  the  North  Carolina 
Conference  was  efifected  in  the  latter  part  of  1851,  when  the  Con- 
ference endorsed  the  college  with  the  understanding  that  min- 
isterial students  should  be  educated  free  of  charge.  The  institu- 
tion was  still  connected  with  the  State.  The  amended  charter 
of  1853  directed  the  Literary  Board  of  the  State  to  lend  the 
Trustees  $10,000  upon  the  execution  of  a  suitable  bond.  In  pro- 
curing securities  Craven  experienced  considerable  difficulty,  but 
his  determination  triumphed,  and  he  had  the  satisfaction  of  seeing 
a  handsome  brick  building  erected. 

In  1859,  by  an  act  of  the  Legislature,  the  college  became  the 
property  of  the  North  Carolina  Conference.  There  was  no  longer 
any  connection  with  the  State,  and  the  name  was  changed  to 
Trinity.  From  1859  to  1861  the  institution  enjoyed  great  pros- 
perity. During  these  years  Dr.  Craven  battered  down  much  of  the 
opposition  to  himself  and  the  college.  Current  expenses  were 
fully  met  and  the  prospects  for  a  handsome  endowment  were  very 
bright — a  fact  based  on  the  strong  personality  and  commanding 
influence  of  the  president. 

Dr.  Craven  had  a  pronounced  military  spirit.  He  was  well 
acquainted  with  the  details  of  Napoleon's  battles.  He  was  able 
to  describe  minutely  the  various  stages  of  each  battle.  So  it  is 
not  strange  that  when  the  Civil  War  began  he  took  an  active 
part  in  it.  The  Confederate  archives  show  that  Captain  B.  Craven 
was  in  command  of  the  post  at  Salisbury,  December  20,  1861,  and 
that  he  was  relieved  in  January,  1862.    During  this  time  he  was 


io6  NORTH  CAROLINA 

still  connected  with  the  college  as  president.  In  1863  he  resigned, 
and  was  for  two  years  pastor  of  the  Edenton  Street,  Raleigh.  In 
the  fall  of  1865  he  was  reelected  president,  and  the  doors  were 
opened  in  the  following  January  with  only  a  few  students.  He 
had  with  his  own  money  liquidated  the  debt  to  the  Literary  Board, 
before  referred  to,  and,  while  he  held  the  bond  against  the  cor- 
poration, he  refused  to  press  his  claim  and  demanded  no  interest. 
There  was  in  him  nothing  mercenary.  He  spared  neither  himself 
nor  his  money  in  advancing  the  interests  of  the  college.  He  very 
often  supplemented  the  professors'  salaries  with  money  out  of 
his  own  pocket. 

In  187s  the  large  wing  of  the  building  was  completed.  It  con- 
tains still  an  auditorium,  which  is  considered  the  best  in  the  whole 
State.  The  plans  and  specifications  were  drawn  up  by  Dr.  Craven, 
and  worked  out  on  higher  mathematical  principles.  In  the  con- 
struction of  the  new  wing  a  considerable  debt  was  incurred  and 
this  drove  the  iron  still  deeper  into  Dr.  Craven's  soul.  Until  his 
death  this  debt  was  a  great  burden.  It  is  no  compliment  to  the 
Methodists  of  North  Carolina  that  they  compelled  this  heroic  man 
to  run  the  college  without  an  endowment  fund,  keep  up  repairs, 
pay  the  salaries  of  professors  and  all  contingent  expenses.  In 
1875  the  Treasurer's  report  showed  that  the  president  was  under- 
paid, while  three  of  the  professors  were  overpaid.  Yet  in  1878 
the  Conference  Committee  on  Education  reported  that  "'over  and 
above  all  liabilities  the  property  of  the  college  is,  at  cost  value, 
worth  over  $30,000,  and  yet  not  more  than  $5,000  from  all  sources 
has  bee'n  received  by  the  college  in  donations.  Hence  the  institu- 
tion has  not  only  paid  the  faculty  and  all  current  expenses,  but 
has  in  some  way  contributed  largely  to  the  real  property.  This 
is  not  only  unusual,  but  it  is  unique  in  the  history  of  male  colleges, 
and  is  perhaps  the  only  instance  of  the  kind  among  American 
institutions."  This  is  quoted  in  order  to  emphasize  the  admin- 
istrative ability  of  Dr.  Craven. 

From  a  physical  and  mental  standpoint  Dr.  Craven  was  an 
unusual  man.  Nature  had  bestowed  on  him  an  ample  largess. 
The  body  was  short  and  stocky,  with  a  tremendous  width  of 


BRAXTON  CRAVEN  107 

shoulders.  The  head  was  large,  with  very  high  forehead ;  the  eyes 
were  dark  and  deep  set;  the  jaw  was  square;  the  lips  were  thin, 
and  the  mouth  broad.  Every  part  of  his  face  denoted  great 
strength  and  firmness.  On  his  chin  he  wore  a  square-cut  beard. 
He  would  command  attention  in  any  crowd,  and  the  first  thought 
suggested  was  that  of  strength.  His  eyes  could  be  soft  and  be- 
nignant, or  flash  like  half-hidden  fires.  His  health  up  to  the  last 
year  of  his  life  was  perfect,  and  the  family  say  that  he  never 
missed  a  meal  in  his  life  on  account  of  sickness.  He  never  had 
a  headache  in  his  life,  and  he  never  had  a  dream.  He  was  capable 
of  great  labor.  He  rarely  retired  before  one  o'clock  in  the  morn- 
ing. Long  after  the  lights  were  out  in  the  students'  rooms  the 
light  burned  in  the  president's  office.  He  was  able  to  do  with  a 
minimum  of  sleep,  which  was  always  deep  and  restful. 

Upon  such  a  strong  physical  basis  was  reared  a  strong  in- 
tellectual structure.  A  mere  glance  at  the  brow,  mouth  and 
contour  of  the  head  would  tell  at  once  of  a  large  amount  of  gray 
matter.  A  mind  which  could  drink  in  the  substance  of  the  ele- 
mentary branches  of  an  English  education  by  the  light  of  the 
pine-knot  at  the  close  of  the  day  of  strenuous  physical  labor,  and 
which  enabled  the  boy  only  sixteen  years  old  to  meet  the  demands 
of  a  school  usually  taught  by  a  man  of  mature  years,  certainly 
gave  promise  of  high  intellectual  exploit.  And  the  promise  was 
fulfilled.  The  writer  of  this  sketch  conscientiously  feels  that  in  all 
his  experience  with  men  he  never  met  one  with  such  intellectual 
power  as  Braxton  Craven.  He  was  thoroughly  conversant 
with  all  the  leading  events  of  the  day.  He  was  well  versed  in 
history.  He  read  every  worthy  new  book  of  fiction.  He  was 
able  to  read  fluently  four  different  languages.  He  was  well  read 
in  law  and  medicine,  having  taken  a  course  in  each.  He  was 
able  in  his  examination  for  a  diploma  at  Randolph  Macon  College 
to  vanquish  the  professor  of  mathematics  in  a  dispute  over  a 
problem  in  integral  and  differential  calculus.  He  made  as- 
tronomical calculations.  He  forced  a  prominent  astronomer  in 
Washington  City  to  change  his  figures  with  reference  to  the  points 
from  which  the  famous  solar  eclipse  of  1869  would  be  visible. 


io8  NORTH  CAROLINA 

He  applied  the  principles  of  calculus  to  the  construction  of  the  roof 
of  the  auditorium  finished  in  1875.  Every  year  he  reviewed  the 
senior  class  in  the  branches  taught  in  the  three  preceding  years. 
He  could  turn  from  the  exposition  of  great  principles  in  inter- 
national law  to  the  solution  of  the  most  intricate  problem  in 
mathematical  astronomy  or  the  translation  of  the  most  difficult 
passages  in  Juvenal  or  Thucidydes.  He  seemed  perfectly  at 
home  in  every  branch  of  study  contained  in  the  college  curriculum, 
which  even  then  in  some  departments,  especially  higher  mathe- 
matics, was  as  high  as  any  collegiate  institution  in  the  South.  In 
knowledge  of  the  classics,  the  sciences,  history  and  literature  he 
was  truly  a  master.  He  was  no  specialist.  His  mind  was  om- 
nivorous. Professor  Doub  said  that  he  was  a  man  of  "ency- 
clopaedic knowledge." 

Dr.  Craven's  duties  as  president  of  Trinity  College  were  mainly 
administrative,  yet  he  abundantly  exercised  himself  as  teacher. 
In  this  capacity  he  evinced  preeminent  ability.  Teaching  with  him 
was  an  art,  and  that  art  was  born  in  him.  He  cared  very  little 
for  superficial  details.  He  held  strategic  principles  with  a  very 
firm  mental  grip,  and  it  was  his  effort  to  enable  the  pupil  to  have 
the  same  grip.  One  of  the  first  lessons  he  taught  was  the  high 
value  and  pressing  necessity  of  self-reliance  in  intellectual  de- 
velopment and  research.  He  had  a  contempt  for  mere  scholastic 
mechanism.  Consequently,  he  despised  rules.  He  sought  to  im- 
press on  the  pupil's  mind  the  glory  of  being  able  to  make  his  own 
rules  and  blaze  an  original  path  through  every  intellectual  forest. 

He  constantly  emphasized  the  truth  that  education  is  not  mere 
acquisition  of  facts  or  simple  mastery  of  contents,  but  that  it  is 
a  development  which  reaches  far  above  the  mental  domain  into 
that  higher  spiritual  atmosphere  in  which  true  greatness  in  God's 
sight  is  nurtured.  He  often  said  that  his  supreme  object  was  to 
"make  men."  Arnold  of  Rugby  never  exerted  a  stronger  and 
more  salutary  influence  over  his  pupils  than  Braxton  Craven  over 
the  boys  and  young  men  whom  he  taught.  His  influence  was 
something  wonderful.  Scattered  throughout  North  Carolina  and 
the  whole  South  are  hundreds  of  men  in  all  vocations  whose 


BRAXTON  CRAVEN  109 

hearts  give  a  quick,  tender  throb  when  the  name  of  Braxton 
Craven  is  mentioned.  They  say  that  their  strongest  impulse 
toward  a  high,  independent  manhood  was  given  by  their  revered 
preceptor  and  that  his  strong  influence  abides.  The  writer  of  this 
sketch  once  had  occasion  to  go  into  the  office  of  one  of  our  prom- 
inent men  to  ask  for  a  contribution  to  a  fund  devoied  to  the 
painting  of  an  oil  portrait  of  Dr.  Craven.  The  gentleman  re- 
sponded with  a  liberal  contribution  and  said,  "Certainly  I  will 
give  something  to  honor  Dr.  Craven.  He  expelled  me  from 
college,  but  I  love  him."  This  illustrates  Craven's  strong  hold 
even  upon  recalcitrant  pupils. 

It  can  be  truthfully  said  that  Dr.  Craven  made  men.  In  looking 
over  the  list  of  the  alumni  alone,  the  writer  finds  the  following 
facts  bearing  upon  living  persons :  There  are  nearly  one  hundred 
ministers  of  the  Gospel,  many  of  whom  have  attained  to  high 
prominence  in  North  Carolina  and  other  States.  Nearly  fifty 
are  lawyers,  two  of  whom  (F.  M.  Simmons  and  L.  S.  Overman) 
are  United  States  senators.  Four  are  supreme  court  judges. 
One  is  a  judge  of  the  United  States  district  court.  Several  are 
members  of  Congress.  No  less  than  twelve  of  the  leading  educa- 
tional institutions  have  an  alumnus  of  Trinity  in  the  faculty.  It 
is  a  remarkable  fact  that  the  Trinity  alumni,  with  but  few  ex- 
ceptions, have  been  successful  in  life. 

There  has  never  been  the  slightest  difficulty  in  measuring  the 
manhood  and  appraising  the  life-value  of  Braxton  Craven.  That 
he  was  one  of  the  greatest  sons  of  North  Carolina  is  a  fact  ac- 
knowledged by  all  who  knew  him  or  knew  of  him.  Hon.  Josephus 
Daniels,  editor  of  the  News  and  Observer,  says : 

"About  twenty  years  ago,  I  am  told  by  a  member  of  Congress,  at  a 
meeting  of  the  North  Carolina  delegation  in  Washington,  they  were  dis- 
cussing the  big  men  in  North  Carolina — the  men  of  big  brain  and  original 
power — and  the  consensus  of  opinion  was  that  the  two  biggest  men  in 
North  Carolina  were  Dr.  Craven  and  Judge  Schenck." 

As  a  preacher  Dr.  Craven  was  strong  and  virile.  There  was 
nothing  abstruse  in  his  sermons.  He  applied  the  Gospel  to  the 
practical  affairs  of  life.     There  was  no  mold  upon  his  thought. 


no  NORTH  CAROLINA 

It  was  as  fresh  and  inviting  as  a  mountain  daisy.  His  intellectual 
conscience  compelled  him  to  be  severely  logical.  The  wings  of 
fancy  were  somewhat  clipped.  Hence  he  was  not  an  orator  in  the 
popular  sense.  Yet  he  ofttimes  possessed  an  eloquence  which 
shook  open  the  very  gates  of  the  heart.  There  was  not  in  the 
Methodist  Church  any  place  of  honor  that  he  could  not  have 
reached  had  he  been  so  inclined.  He  had  many  friends  among 
other  churches.  There  was  a  strong  bond  of  friendship  between 
him  and  Dr.  Talmage.  His  was  a  broad  catholic  spirit  whose 
intensity  of  vision  as  he  looked  at  truth  obliterated  all  creedal 
lines.  While  one  of  the  strongest  of  Wesleyans,  he  managed  to 
find  something  good  in  every  evangelical  creed.  His  was  the 
spiritual  nature  which  apprehended  God  concretely  in  human  ex- 
perience rather  than  in  mystic  abstractions  and  psychic  visions. 
He  was  a  man  who  was  acquainted  with  God  and  His  Son.  He 
talked  with  the  Divine  One  daily  and  bore  the  marks  of  the 
Crucified  One. 

In  describing  the  latter  days  of  Dr.  Craven  I  cannot  do  better 
than  to  refer  to  the  excellent  biography  of  him  written  by  Pro- 
fessor Jerome  Dowd,  an  admiring  pupil.     Professor  Dowd  says : 

"Soon  after  his  return  from  General  Conference  (1882)  he  became  low- 
spirited,  and  began  to  look  worn  and  broken  in  health.  Fifty  years  of 
incessant  and  severe  mental  and  physical  activity,  together  with  the  financial 
troubles  at  the  college,  had  told  on  his  constitution.  He  lost  flesh  and  power 
of  endurance.  He  found  that  his  accustomed  labors  fatigued  him  more 
than  ever,  and  that  his  sleep  for  the  first  time  in  his  life  was  irregular  and 
broken.  His  health  continuing  to  fail,  he  went  to  Piedmont  Springs, 
Stokes  County,  in  July,  remaining  several  weeks.  But  receiving  no  decided 
benefit  from  the  water,  he  returned  to  his  home,  stopping  en  route  to  his 
home  to  see  his  friend.  Colonel  J.  W.  Alspaugh.  Colonel  Alspaugh  urged 
him  to  go  North  and  consult  a  specialist.  To  this  Dr.  Craven  replied :  'I 
will  go,  but  you  are  trying  to  cheat  death  of  its  victim.'  In  September, 
Dr.  Craven,  in  company  with  his  son.  Will,  made  a  trip  to  Baltimore,  and 
consulted  Dr.  Opie.  The  physician  prescribed  certain  medicine  and  diet, 
and  giving  such  encouragement  as  he  could,  sent  the  patient  back  home. 
The  physician  communicated  the  fact  to  Will  that  the  worst  might  happen 
at  any  moment.  However,  the  patient  enjoyed  his  trip  North,  as  he  had 
always  enjoyed  others,  and  came  back  in  hopeful  and  buoyant  spirits." 


BRAXTON  CRAVEN  in 

But  the  iron  was  piercing  to  its  lengtli.  In  November,  Dr. 
Craven  was  compelled  to  give  up  his  active  duties  as  president. 
While  flesh  and  blood  showed  the  deadly  strain,  the  spirit  was 
strong  and  buoyant.  There  was  no  abatement  of  his  interest  in 
the  usual  affairs.  It  was  on  the  night  of  November  7,  1882,  while 
he  was  in  the  bosom  of  his  beloved  family,  that  the  final  summons 
came,  and  without  a  word  or  struggle  the  great  soul  went  to  its 
God.  He  was  buried  in  the  little  cemetery  near  the  college.  A 
plain  shaft  stands  at  the  head  of  his  grave,  and  upon  it  is  this 
inscription : 

"Braxton  Craven,  D.D.,  LL.D.,  born  August  26,  1822.     Died  Novem- 
ber 7,  1882." 

In  later  years  a  splendid  building  was  erected  by  loving  pupils 
and  friends  on  the  campus  of  Trinity  College,  Durham,  and  it  is 
called  "Braxton  Craven  Memorial  Hall."  A  more  imposing 
monument  it  is  than  the  simple  marble  shaft  which  stands  in  the 
little  graveyard  at  Trinity;  yet  his  true  monument  is  unseen.  It 
is  a  Voice,  unhushed  by  death,  which,  while  rivers  run  and  seasons 
come  and  go,  will  speak  to  the  generations  of  the  old  North  State 
and  call  them  to  the  high  places  of  manhood  and  womanhood. 

Thomas  N.  Ivey. 


LEONIDAS  WAKEFIELD  CRAWFORD 


'  EONIDAS  WAKEFIELD,  fifth  son  of  William 
Dunlop  and  Christina  Elizabeth  Crawford,  was 
born  near  Salisbury,  Rowan  County,  on  April  5, 
1842.  His  father,  who  had  been  a  brilliant  stu- 
dent and  a  first-honor  graduate  of  the  Uni- 
versity of  North  CaroHna,  was  an  able  lawyer 
and  political  leader.  He  served  his  State  in  both  branches  of  its 
Legislature,  introducing  the  bill  that  created  Davie  County,  and 
afterward  representing  Davie  and  Rowan  in  the  Senate.  He 
married  the  attractive  and  accomplished  daughter  of  Major 
Thomas  Mull,  and  after  the  death  of  the  latter  moved  his  family 
to  his  wife's  girlhood  home.  On  his  old  colonial  estate,  part  of 
the  original  lands  purchased  by  the  Scotchman,  Dunn,  Mrs.  Craw- 
ford's great-grandfather,  extensive  farming  operations  were  car- 
ried on  through  an  overseer,  while  Mr.  Crawford  gave  most  of  his 
own  time  to  his  law-office ;  and  here  the  brothers,  attending  day 
school  in  Salisbury  and  engaging  heartily  out  of  school  hours  in 
the  varied  work  and  amusements  abundantly  afforded  by  forest, 
field  and  stream,  received  their  daily  training  and  laid  the  founda- 
tion of  a  sturdy  manhood. 

Unfortunately,  Mrs.  Crawford  was  left  a  widow  when  Leonidas 
was  two  years  old.  With  much  strength  of  will  and  force  of  char- 
acter she  managed  the  estate,  and  successfully  performed  the 
duties  of  both  parents  to  her  sons.     When  after  some  ten  years 


£,--70.by  r  G.  m//,ama  &Srs  A^r^ 


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LEONIDAS  WAKEFIELD  CRAWFORD  113 

she  was  married  to  Peter  M.  Brown,  Esq.,  a  man  of  wealth  and 
unusual  business  enterprise,  Leonidas  became  a  resident  of  Char- 
lotte. A  favorite  with  his  step-father,  he  was  used  by  him  outside 
of  school  hours  in  such  a  way  that  he  gained  a  rather  extensive 
industrial  education  and  learned  to  know  well  many  different 
classes  of  men.  This  experience  was  an  invaluable  part  of  his 
preparation  for  after  life. 

When  among  the  first  volunteers  from  this  State  to  the  Con- 
federate Army  were  three  of  the  Crawford  brothers,  the  anxious 
mother  sent  her  youngest  son  to  Olin  high  school,  in  Iredell 
County,  hoping  to  prevent  his  volunteering ;  but  six  months  later, 
with  his  mother's  blessing,  he  went  out  as  junior  second  lieu- 
tenant of  the  Forty-second  regiment  of  infantry.  He  soon  be- 
came senior  second  lieutenant,  and  was  a  capable,  fearless  officer. 
One  who  knew  the  four  brothers  well  said  years  afterward : 

"Their  Christian  mother  sent  them  out  with  tears  and  prayers,  and  her 
protecting  spirit  surely  went  with  them,  for  they  fought  like  devils  and 
yet  never  got  a  scratch.'' 

The  first  hard  fighting  of  the  Forty-second  infantry  was  near 
Bermuda  Hundreds,  when  after  a  long  and  dangerous  charge 
the  enemy  was  routed.  Lieutenant  Crawford  and  two  other 
gallant  officers  were  the  first  to  cross  the  breastworks.  Having 
been  entrusted  by  General  Martin  with  the  delivery  of  an  im- 
portant despatch  to  General  Beauregard,  he  braved  perilous  ex- 
posure to  shot  and  shell  and  successfully  executed  his  commission. 
In  the  second  battle  of  Cold  Harbor  the  conflict  on  June  3d  was 
especially  fearful,  and  the  Confederate  lines  were  broken  at  several 
points.  In  order  to  retake  these  lines  a  desperate  charge  was 
made  that  night.  Lieutenant  Crawford,  in  command  of  the  left 
wing,  reached  and  crossed  the  breastworks,  but  being  almost 
without  support,  was  forced  to  surrender.  At  the  headquarters 
of  General  Hancock  he  was  closely  interrogated  as  to  the  move- 
ments of  Lee's  army,  but  as  he  told  even  less  than  he  knew  they 
gained  nothing.  Later  he  was  strongly  advised  by  General  Kil- 
patrick  to  escape  the  horrors  of  imprisonment  by  taking  the  oath 


114  NORTH  CAROLINA 

of  allegiance  and  going  North — advice  that  appealed  in  vain  to 
the  proud  Confederate.  He  was  sent  to  Point  Lookout,  and  later 
to  Fort  Delaware,  where  he  remained  until  after  Lee's  surrender. 
This  year  of  hard  prison  life,  crowded  with  stern  lessons  and 
solemn  experiences,  was  made  memorable  by  more  than  one 
thrilling  episode. 

Released  from  prison  June  23,  1865,  Mr.  Crawford  returned  as 
soon  as  possible  to  Charlotte.  Pitiful  indeed  were  the  changes 
wrought  by  the  war,  and  vain  seemed  the  hope  of  completing 
his  long-interrupted  education.  Being  deeply  impressed  that  his 
work  was  that  of  the  ministry,  his  friends  advised  that  he  enter 
upon  it  at  once.  Determined,  however,  to  have  better  prepara- 
tion, he  reentered  the  academy  in  Olin,  and  a  year  later  entered 
the  University  of  Virginia.  At  that  time  the  University  of  North 
Carolina  was  closed  and  that  of  Virginia  was  unequalled  in  the 
South.  Having  neither  time  nor  money  to  take  the  full  university 
course  leading  to  a  degree,  Mr.  Crawford  applied  himself  to  well- 
selected  subjects,  and  in  two  years  graduated  in  the  schools  of 
English  and  Moral  Philosophy.  During  his  university  course  he 
was  active  in  Christian  work.  He  had  been  licensed  to  preach  by 
his  home  church,  and  in  1867,  while  visiting  Baltimore,  he  was 
called  to  serve  as  assistant  pastor  to  Dr.  Williams,  of  Chatsworth 
Methodist  Church.  He  declined  this  call  and  took  instead  a  post- 
graduate course  in  Moral  Philosophy  in  the  university.  Twice 
afterward  he  was  offered  a  pastorate  in  the  city  of  Baltimore,  but 
loyalty  to  native  State  and  home  church  induced  him  to  cast  his  lot 
with  the  itinerants  of  the  North  Carolina  Conference. 

In  1868  he  was  formally  received  into  this  Conference,  and 
during  a  period  of  twenty  years  served  five  churches,  completing 
a  four  years'  term,  first  at  Hillsboro,  then  at  Salisbury,  Fayette- 
ville.  West  Market  Street,  Greensboro  and  New-Bern.  By  un- 
tiring energy,  studious  habits,  strong  and  impressive  sermons, 
faithful  pastoral  work,  and  the  gracious  bearing  of  a  polished 
gentleman,  he  endeared  himself  not  only  to  the  members  of  his 
own  denomination,  but  to  the  best  citizens  in  all  these  places,  and 
it  was  only  the  time-limit  imposed  by  Methodist  polity  that  sev- 


LEONIDAS  WAKEFIELD  CRAWFORD  115 

ered  his  connection  with  any  people.  Both  at  Fayetteville  and 
at  New-Bern  efforts  were  made,  though  vainly,  to  engage  his  ser- 
vices in  educational  work. 

In  1890  he  was  elected  by  the  unanimous  vote  of  the  Board  of 
Trustees  to  the  Chair  of  Theology  in  Trinity  College.  He  had 
just  closed  the  first  year  of  his  second  pastorate  at  West  Market 
Street  Church,  Greensboro,  and  was  reluctant  to  give  up  the  work 
of  the  ministry.  At  a  sacrifice,  however,  in  obedience  to  the  call 
of  the  church,  he  accepted  the  trust,  and  throwing  his  whole  heart 
into  the  work  of  his  department  faithfully  served  the  college  for 
four  years.  When  in  1895,  for  lack  of  funds,  the  trustees  were 
forced  to  abolish  the  schools  of  Theology  and  of  Law,  he  gladly 
retired  and  resumed  the  work  of  the  pastorate. 

During  his  second  year  at  Reidsville,  where  he  did  a  fine  work, 
he  was  elected  editor  of  the  North  Carolina  Christian  Advocate, 
then  the  official  organ  of  the  two  Conferences  in  the  State.  His 
term  of  editorship  covers  a  storm  period,  the  true  history  of  which 
will  some  day  make  a  most  interesting  page  in  the  story  of  North 
Carolina  Methodism.  When  strong  pressure  was  brought  to  bear 
to  draw  the  paper  into  a  movement  antagonistic  to  the  State 
schools.  Dr.  Crawford,  believing  this  policy  to  be  narrow,  unwise, 
and  entirely  out  of  harmony  with  the  true  spirit  of  Methodism, 
stood  true  to  his  convictions,  regardless  of  cost,  and  though  he 
thus  became  a  target  for  the  opposition,  never  did  he  lose  his 
dignity  or  self-respect  nor  swerve  in  the  slightest  from  his  posi- 
tion. His  high  aim  was  to  hold  the  church  in  the  right  relation  to 
the  State  and  State  institutions,  and  so  to  improve  the  Advocate 
in  its  spiritual  and  intellectual  tone  that  it  might  be  worthy  of  a 
place  in  every  Methodist  home.  Despite  serious  obstacles,  he  suc- 
ceeded in  increasing  its  circulation  and  making  it  rank  with  the 
best  Southern  Methodist  organs.  At  the  end  of  six  years,  in  the 
belief  that  his  purpose  was  accomplished,  he  retired  from  the  paper 
voluntarily. 

Always  alive  to  the  interests  of  his  denomination,  while  editing 
the  Advocate  he  bought  a  lot  on  Lithia  and  Spring  Garden  Streets, 
Greensboro,  near  the  State  Normal  College,  and  with  a  little  finan- 


ii6  NORTH  CAROLINA 

cial  aid  built  a  comfortable  house  of  worship,  in  which  he  or- 
ganized a  Sunday  school  and  a  church,  which  he  served  as  volun- 
teer pastor.  Desirous  of  making  this  chapel  a  self-sustaining 
charge  and  of  recuperating  his  own  health,  on  retirement  from 
the  Advocate  he  was  glad  to  be  appointed  the  regular  pastor,  and 
he  continued  to  serve  on  a  meagre  salary  for  four  years.  Spring 
Garden  Street  Church,  well  organized  in  every  department,  stands 
a  monument  to  his  ability  to  build  from  the  ground  by  sheer  power 
to  attract  and  to  hold.  In  1904  he  was  appointed  to  Main 
Street  Church,  Reidsville,  where  the  community  was  as  enthu- 
stastic  in  receiving  as  the  people  of  Greensboro  were  sad  in  losing 
him. 

Dr.  Crawford  has  ever  been  a  friend  of  education.  During 
his  first  pastorate  in  Greensboro,  in  1883,  when  Greensboro  Female 
College  was  about  to  be  sold  at  auction  to  satisfy  a  heavy  mort- 
gage, he  determined,  if  possible,  to  save  it  to  the  church.  To  this 
end  he  visited  at  his  own  expense  several  prominent  towns  and 
succeeded  in  interesting  a  sufficient  number  of  friends  to  form 
a  joint  stock  company  to  buy  the  property  and  continue  the  Metho- 
dist school.  For  several  years  he  was  one  of  its  directors  and  a 
large  factor  in  its  successful  management.  In  the  establishment 
of  the  State  Normal  and  Industrial  College  he  saw  the  fulfillment 
of  a  long-felt  need  of  the  women  of  the  State.  In  securing  the 
donation  of  a  site  for  its  location  he  was  a  factor,  and  he  has  al- 
ways been  one  of  its  staunchest  upholders.  On  his  leaving  Greens- 
boro strong  resolutions  were  passed  by  the  faculty,  and  an  affec- 
tionate letter  written  by  the  Young  Women's  Christian  Associa- 
tion, all  expressive  of  the  highest  appreciation  of  his  pastoral 
service  to  the  college  during  his  residence  in  the  city.  Largely 
through  his  efforts  the  secondary  schools  of  his  Conference  were 
freed  from  debt  and  established  upon  a  firmer  basis.  He  is  a 
trustee  of  Weaverville  and  Rutherford  Colleges,  and  of  Daven- 
port College  for  Young  Women.  For  fourteen  years  treasurer 
of  his  Conference,  he  has  successfully  managed  its  financial  m- 
terests.  He  is  chairman  of  its  Sunday  School  board.  He  is  chair- 
man of  the  board  of  managers  of  the  Greensboro  City  library. 


LEONIDAS  WAKEFIELD  CRAWFORD  117 

and  has  long  been  the  beloved  chaplain  of  the  Greensboro  camp 
of  Confederate  Veterans. 

Dr.  Crawford  has  always  felt  that  he  sustained  an  irreparable 
loss  in  the  interruption  of  his  education  by  the  Civil  War.  He 
also  realizes  that  the  life  of  an  itinerant  Methodist  minister, 
with  its  frequent  changes  from  place  to  place,  is  not  favor- 
able to  broad  scholarship  and  accurate  learning.  But  he  has 
economized  time,  studied  seriously  both  men  and  books,  and  thus 
reached  a  high  standard.  Central  College,  Missouri,  and  Weaver- 
ville  College,  North  Carolina,  conferred  upon  him  the  degree 
of  D.  D.  In  May,  1901,  the  College  of  Bishops  of  his  church  ap- 
pointed him  a  member  of  the  second  Ecumenical  Conference  of 
world-wide  Methodism,  which  was  held  in  Washington  City,  his 
only  colleague  being  General  Robert  B.  Vance. 

Dr.  Crawford  has  often  said  that  the  essentials  to  success  are 
a  high  and  definite  aim,  industry,  self-reliance,  temperance  in  all 
things,  and  abiding  faith  in  God.  These,  together  with  an 
intimate  knowledge  of  human  nature  and  rare  tact  in  dealing  with 
people,  are  characteristic  of  the  man  himself.  By  the  intelligent 
and  influential  he  is  recognized  as  a  strong  preacher  and  a  safe 
leader.  His  manner  of  presenting  the  truth  is  peculiarly  his  own, 
having  a  directness  and  subtle  power  which  make  it  appeal  both 
to  the  heart  and  the  intellect  of  his  hearers.  As  a  man  of  affairs 
his  judgment  is  clear  and  discriminating.  As  a  pastor  he  is  un- 
excelled, and  his  influence  on  a  community  is  wide  and  lasting. 
Those  who  know  him  best  believe  him  equal  to  any  position  in 
the  gift  of  his  church. 

Among  the  strongest  influences  over  his  life  have  been  the  per- 
fect companionship  and  intelligent  sympathy  of  a  devoted  wife. 
On  December  12,  1872,  he  was  married  to  Miss  Marianna  Pullen, 
of  Raleigh,  a  woman  of  thorough  education  and  refinement,  deep 
piety,  great  executive  ability  and  much  personal  charm.  From 
this  union  there  are  six  living  children. 

A  character  so  positive  as  Dr.  Crawford's  must  at  times  clash 
with  the  views  of  others,  but  no  man  of  his  type  has,  perhaps, 
fewer  enemies  and    a   larger  circle   of   friends.     One's  contem- 


ii8 


NORTH  CAROLINA 


poraries  rarely  see  the  whole  man  in  just  the  right  proportions, 
but  when,  years  later,  his  faults  and  virtues  have  been  accurately 
weighed,  the  deliberate,  final  judgment  of  true  history,  whose  ears 
are  deaf  alike  to  enmity  and  flattery,  will  be : 

Leonidas  Wakefield  Crawford —  a  true  man. 

Bertha  Marvin  Lee. 


RICHARD    BENBURY    CREECY 

Richard  BENBURY  CREECY,  long  ■  distin- 
guished as  one  of  the  able  editors  of  North 
Carolina,  was  born  on  Drummond's  Point,  lying 
on  Albemarle  Sound,  in  Chowan  County,  on 
the  19th  of  December,  1813. 

In  the  latter  years  of  the  seventeenth  century, 
about  1680,  five  Huguenot  brothers  sailed  from  France  to  seek  an 
asylum  from  persecution  in  the  wilds  of  America,  and  eventually 
settled  in  the  counties  adjacent  to  Albemarle  Sound.  One  of  these. 
Job  Creecy,  was  the  first  American  progenitor  of  the  subject  of 
this  sketch.  Colonel  Creecy  is  also  descended  from  General 
Thomas  Benbury,  one  of  the  leading  statesmen  of  the  Revolution, 
who  was  Speaker  of  the  House  of  Commons  during  the  Revolu- 
tionary War,  fought  at  the  Battle  of  Great  Bridge,  and  also  ren- 
dered much  other  service  to  the  cause  of  his  country  in  the 
struggle  for  independence.  On  the  formation  of  the  new  govern- 
ment of  the  United  States,  with  Washington  as  president.  General 
Washington  appointed  him  collector  of  the  port  of  Edenton. 

Colonel  Creecy  is  also  descended  from  General  William  Skinner, 
who  was  the  treasurer  of  the  eastern  district  of  North  Carolina 
before  the  passage  of  the  act  appointing  one  treasurer  for  the  whole 
State,  and  he  was  also  a  general  of  the  Albemarle  militia  during 
the  Revolutionary  War  and  rendered  important  service  to  the 
State  in  that  capacity. 


I20  NORTH  CAROLINA 

The  father  of  Colonel  Creecy  was  Joshua  Skinner  Creecy,  a 
business  man  and  planter  who  did  not  enter  into  public  life,  but 
inheriting  a  military  inclination  was  colonel  of  the  militia.  His 
character  was  of  good  report ;  he  was  kind,  genial  and  generous, 
esteemed  and  admired  by  his  friends ;  his  death  at  the  early  age 
of  twenty-nine  was  much  lamented.  He  married  Mary  Benbury, 
a  lady  of  large  family  connections,  whose  natural  graces  were 
enhanced  by  the  feminine  accomplishments  of  her  day.  While  the 
family  home  was  on  the  farm,  they  lived  also  in  Edenton,  and  en- 
joyed the  excellent  society  for  which  that  town  has  long  been  so 
famous. 

In  early  youth  the  physical  condition  of  the  subject  of  this 
sketch  was  frail  and  unpromising,  but  the  careful  attention  that 
was  bestowed  on  him  eventually  resulted  in  strengthening  his 
weak  constitution,  and  after  many  vicissitudes  and  trying  ex- 
periences in  life  he  has  attained  an  age  not  often  reached  by  men. 
In  youth  he  was  studious  and  fond  of  reading,  but  diffident  of  his 
powers  to  do  all  things  well.  He  was  a  pupil  at  the  Edenton 
Academy,  where  so  many  of  the  young  men  and  women  of  the  first 
circles  of  eastern  North  Carolina  were  taught.  Afterward,  he  re- 
ceived at  Warrenton  private  instruction  from  Reverend  J.  H. 
Saunders,  the  learned  father  of  the  late  Colonel  William  L. 
Saunders;  and  then  in  1831  he  entered  the  University  of  North 
Carolina,  graduating  in  1835.  He  studied  law  and  obtained  his 
license  in  1842,  and  began  the  practice  at  Edenton  at  once,  but 
after  three  years  he  was  led  to  abandon  his  professional  career 
and  devote  himself  to  agricultural  pursuits.  The  war  left  him 
in  reduced  circumstances,  and  in  1870  he  founded  the  Elisabeth 
City  Economist  which  he  has  continued  to  publish  without  inter- 
mission for  a  period  of  thirty-five  years,  and  even  now  at  the  ad- 
vanced age  of  ninety-two  he  goes  to  his  office  every  day  and  writes 
his  editorials  with  all  the  vigor  and  dash  that  characterized  his 
productions  in  early  manhood.  In  1901  he  prepared  and  pub- 
lished "Grandfather's  Tales  of  North  Carolina  History,"  and  he 
has  in  contemplation,  notwithstanding  his  advanced  years,  the 
preparation  of  a  second  volume  on  the  same  lines.    Colonel  Creecy 


RICHARD  BENBURY  CREECY  121 

has  always  been  a  belle  lettre  scholar,  fond  of  literature,  and  that 
flavor  has  permeated  his  life.  It  led  him  after  the  war,  when  he 
was  broken  in  fortune,  to  turn  to  the  editorial  profession  as  a 
means  of  livelihood,  and  his  editorial  productions  have  had  much 
literary  merit,  blending  humor  with  philosophy,  and  pleasing  both 
in  style  and  manner.  Another  of  their  characteristics  has  been 
their  historical  features.  Fond  of  books  early  in  life.  Colonel 
Creecy  read  much  of  the  local  history  of  the  Albe.marle  section 
and  of  the  State,  and  he  became  very  familiar  with  the  public 
characters  who  had  played  an  interesting  part  on  the  stage  of 
action. 

Before  the  war,  when  he  had  ample  means  and  leisure,  he  wrote 
a  "Child's  History  for  the  Fireside,"  and  when  he  became  editor, 
not  unnaturally,  he  gave  his  readers  the  benefit  and  advantage  of 
his  own  explorations  into  historical  lore,  and  the  Economist  has 
been  distinguished  among  all  the  other  papers  of  the  State  by  its 
historical  and  reminiscent  articles  that  are  greatly  enjoyed  by  its 
readers. 

In  1831  it  was  Colonel  Creecy's  good  fortune,  in  passing  through 
Raleigh  on  his  way  to  the  university,  to  hear  Judge  Gaston  de- 
liver two  great  speeches.  The  Legislature  at  that  time  was  being 
held  in  the  Governor's  mansion  at  the  foot  of  Fayetteville  Street, 
the  capitol  building  having  been  burned  down,  and  a  proposition 
was  under  consideration  to  move  the  State  capital  to  Fayette- 
ville. Judge  Gaston  opposed  the  proposition  and  by  his  address 
aided  in  defeating  it.  He  afterwards  heard  Judge  Gaston 
and  other  famous  orators  in  the  Convention  of  1835,  and  his  ac- 
count of  the  giants  of  those  days,  and  his  reminiscences  and  anec- 
dotes of  the  public  men  who  have  adorned  the  annals  of  the  State, 
have  contributed  to  make  the  columns  of  the  Economist  widely  ap- 
preciated and  of  great  value  to  the  younger  generation  who  were 
not  familiar  with  the  former  statesmen  of  North  Carolina.  Loving 
his  State  and  having  an  affection  for  the  University  of  North 
Carolina,  and  an  interest  in  all  of  the  men  who  were  students  with 
him  or  who  were  afterwards  connected  with  his  alma  mater,  his 
editorials  have  been  permeated  with  a  spirit  of  patriotism,  and 


122  NORTH  CAROLINA 

he  has  striven  to  upbuild  the  State  and  to  promote  the  welfare 
of  the  people. 

Enamored  of  his  professional  work,  Mr.  Creecy  has  not  sought 
political  preferment.  In  early  life  he  was  a  Whig,  like  most  of  the 
other  gentlemen  of  his  section,  and  in  1842,  just  as  he  received  his 
license  to  practice  law,  he  was  almost  by  accident  and  without 
any  expectation  or  desire  on  his  part  nominated  as  a  Whig  candi- 
date to  represent  the  counties  of  Chowan  and  Gates  in  the  Senate ; 
but,  as  he  has  always  contended,  he  was  fortunately  defeated. 
He  was  a  magistrate  and  sat  as  a  member  of  the  Court  of  Quarter 
Sessions  for  Chowan  County  while  he  was  farming  before  he  re- 
ceived his  license;  and  after  his  retirement  from  the  practice  he 
performed  the  same  duties  in  Pasquotank  County.  During  the 
first  administration  of  President  Cleveland  he  served  as  collector 
of  the  port  of  Elizabeth  City,  but  other  than  this  he  has  held  no 
public  station. 

As  a  member  of  the  Press  Association  of  North  Carolina,  it 
has  been  a  pleasure  to  his  editorial  brethren  to  have  him  partici- 
pate in  their  meetings,  and  he  has  been  president  of  the  Associa- 
tion. Twenty-five  years  ago  he  met  with  an  accident  which  has 
required  him  to  use  crutches  and  has  confined  him  largely  to  his 
own  home.  This  physical  infirmity  has  tended  somewhat  to  aid 
Colonel  Creecy  in  his  editorial  and  literary  work,  and  doubtless 
led  to  the  publication  of  his  "Grandfather's  Tales,"  a  volume  that 
abounds  in  the  fine  humor  which  is  characteristic  of  all  Colonel 
Creecy's  writings.  It  also  contains  his  reminiscences  of  many 
of  the  distinguished  men  of  the  State,  and  is  a  loving  tribute 
offered  by  an  affectionate  son  to  North  Carolina,  with  the  hope 
that  it  would  interest  the  young  people  of  the  State  in  the  study 
of  their  local  history.  It  is  well  calculated  to  entertain  both  young 
and  old,  and  there  is  a  vein  of  philosophy  running  through  it 
that  imparts  a  value,  as  well  as  its  historical  basis  and  agreeable 
humor. 

In  his  life  Colonel  Creecy  has  been  influenced  by  three  men  who 
became  his  ideals ;  first.  Reverend  Joseph  H.  Saunders,  who  was 
his   preceptor  at  the   academy  at  Edenton   and   afterwards   his 


RICHARD  BENBURY  CREECY.  123 

private  instructor  at  Warrenton,  and  who  was  his  friend  in  after 
years ;  next,  Judge  Gaston,  several  of  whose  great  speeches  Colonel 
Creecy  listened  to  with  admiration,  and  whose  personal  acquaint- 
ance he  enjoyed;  and  lastly,  his  own  father,  whose  memory  has 
been  his  constant  inspiration  through  life.  And  when  we  con- 
sider the  particular  characteristics  of  these  ideals,  one  is  inclined 
to  say  of  Colonel  Creecy,  noscitur  a  sociis,  for  he  unites  amiability 
with  culture,  purity  of  character  with  intellectual  power,  and 
moderation  and  temperance  with  decided  purpose  and  strength  of 
understanding;  while  his  longevity  and  unimpaired  faculties  at 
his  great  age  may  be  attributed  in  large  measure  to  his  even, 
cheerful  and  hopeful  disposition  and  to  his  admirable  Christian 
philosophy. 

Colonel  Creecy  is  a  member  of  the  Protestant  Episcopal  Church, 
and  has  for  years  been  a  vestryman  of  Christ  Church  at  Elizabeth 
City.  Speaking  of  his  long  and  varied  experience  in  life,  he  says 
that  he  sometimes  thinks  that  every  life  has  in  it  some  element 
of  failure  and  that  his  own  is  not  an  exception :  "Money  I  failed 
to  accumulate ;  the  world's  blazonry  I  have  failed  to  win ;  but 
health,  home  and  friends  I  have  had,  and  I  am  content."  After 
all,  a  contented  mind  and  a  Hfe  passed  amid  pleasant  surround- 
ings and  in  the  full  enjoyment  of  the  appreciation  of  cultivated 
friends  are  much  more  to  be  desired  than  wealth  with  its  anxieties 
and  the  disappointments  of  ungratified  ambitions.  Being  asked  for 
some  suggestion  that  might  be  helpful  to  young  people.  Colonel 
Creecy  suggests  :  "Honesty,  integrity,  friendliness,  timeliness,  god- 
liness, benevolence,  cheerfulness,  firmness  in  the  right,  modest 
assurance,  and  a  careful  study  of  great  speeches  by  great  men." 

On  November  5,  1844,  Colonel  Creecy  was  happily  wedded  to 
Miss  Mary  B.  Perkins,  by  whom  he  had  ten  children;  eight  of 
them  still  survive. 

5".  A.  Ashe. 


WILLIAM    LEE    DAVIDSON 


ILLIAM  LEE  DAVIDSON  was  born  in  1746 
in  Lancaster  County,  Pennsylvania,  and  was 
killed  February  i,  1781,  at  Cowan's  Ford, 
North  Carolina,  while  disputing  the  passage  of 
the  Catawba  River  at  that  place  by  the  British. 
He  was  the  youngest  son  of  George  David- 
son. When  he  was  four  years  old  he  came  to  North  Carolina  with 
his  father,  who  settled  in  Iredell  County,  then  Rowan,  within  the 
bounds  of  Centre  Church.  He  was  educated  in  the  schools  of  the 
neighborhood  and  at  the  Academy  established  at  Charlotte,  which 
was  at  that  time  in  a  flourishing  condition,  and  the  training  ground 
for  many  patriots  of  that  section. 

In  early  life  he  married  Mary,  the  eldest  daughter  of  John 
Brevard,  who  "had  eight  sons  in  the  rebel  army,"  and  sister  of 
Ephraim  Brevard,  the  author  of  the  Mecklenburg  Declaration  of 
Independence.  The  young  couple  settled  on  the  Western  bank 
of  Davidson's  Creek,  about  two  miles  west  of  Centre  Church,  and 
on  the  southern  side  of  the  public  road.  There  were  born 
to  them  four  sons:  George,  John  Alexander,  Ephraim  Brevard 
and  William  Lee ; !  and  three  daughters ;  Jean,  Pamela  and 
Margaret.  Some  of  the  children  remained  in  North  Carolina 
and  now  have  descendants  in  Iredell  County,  but  most  of  the 
family  moved  westward,  and  their  descendants  are  now  to  be 
found   in    Missouri,  Arkansas    and,   adjoining    States,    in   which 


WILLIAM  LEE  DAVIDSON  125 

they  have  reflected  additional  honor  upon  their  illustrious 
name. 

General  Davidson  frequently  omitted  his  middle  name  in  his 
signature,  and  this  fact  has  led  to  some  question  as  to  his  having 
a  middle  name.  Many  documents  are  in  existence,  however,  bear- 
ing his  signature,  in  which  his  middle  name  is  used — among  them 
his  last  will  and  testament,  which  is  on  file  in  Salisbury,  and  these 
leave  no  room  for  doubt. 

During  the  critical  period  preceding  the  Revolution,  committees 
of  safetv  were  organized  throughout  the  colony,  which  were  com- 
posed of  the  ablest  of  the  patriots  of  each  section.  In  the  mem- 
bership from  Rowan  we  find  William  Lee  Davidson,  along  with 
John  Brevard,  Griffith  Rutherford,  Matthew  Locke  and  others, 
who  added  fame  to  that  community.  His  bearing  as  well  as  his 
sagacity  is  show  by  his  selection  as  captain  of  the  "up-river" 
company  of  militia. 

When  the  Provincial  Congress,  in  session  at  Halifax,  in  April, 
1776,  determined  to  raise  four  regiments  additional  to  the  first 
and  second  which  were  already  in  the  field,  Davidson  was  ap- 
pointed major  of  the  Fourth  of  which  Thomas  Polk  was  colonel 
and  James  Thackston  lieutenant-colonel.  Under  the  command 
of  General  Francis  Nash  his  regiment  at  once  marched  to  the 
North  to  join  the  army  of  Washington  which  at  that  time  was 
feeble  and  very  despondent.  His  regiment  participated  with 
credit  in  the  battles  of  Princeton  and  Brandywine  and  in  the 
bloody  encounter  at  Germantown  on  October  4,  1777,  in  which 
Nash  was  killed,  its  valor  was  conspicuously  proven.  On  this 
field  Major  Davidson  was  promoted  for  gallantry  to  be  a  lieu- 
tenant-colonel. He  was  in  the  Battle  of  Monmouth  and  the  other 
battles  of  the  North  until  1779,  when  he  was  ordered  South  to 
reinforce  Lincoln  at  Charleston. 

In  passing  through  North  Carolina,  Lieutenant-Colonel  David- 
son received  permission  to  visit  his  family  after  an  absence  of 
three  years,  and  upon  his  approach  to  Charleston  he  found  it  im- 
possible to  join  his  regiment,  as  the  city  was  surrounded  by  Brit- 
ish.    In  consequence  of  this  he  avoided  capture.     He  returned 


126  NORTH  CAROLINA 

at  once  to  Mecklenburg  and  became  active  in  subduing  Tory  in- 
surrections, which  had  become  numerous  since  the  recent  success 
of  British  arms.  In  one  of  these  encounters  at  Coulson's  Mills, 
on  the  Yadkin,  about  July  i,  1780,  Davidson  received  a  wound 
which  kept  him  from  the  field  for  two  months  and  came  near 
ending  his  life.  The  capture  of  Rutherford  at  Camden  left 
the  militia  of  the  Salisbury  District  without  a  brigadier-general 
to  command  them.  To  this  position  the  General  Assembly  by  act 
of  August  31,  1780,  commissioned  Lieutenant-Colonel  Davidson. 
Zealous  endeavors  were  made  by  him  for  the  reinforcement  of 
General  Greene,  who  was  protecting  Morgan  as  he  made  his  way 
across  the  State  to  Virginia  with  the  prisoners  taken  at  Cowpens. 
When  Cornwallis  reached  the  Catawba  on  January  28,  1781,  in 
his  pursuit  of  Morgan,  he  found  it  much  swollen  by  recent  rains 
which  delayed  his  passage  for  three  days.  Davidson's  small  force 
was  detailed  to  guard  Tool's,  Sherrill's,  Beatties'  and  Cowan's 
fords.  Davidson  himself  took  direct  command  at  the  latter  ford. 
Being  a  difficult  and  rarely  used  ford,  it  was  not  guarded  at  all 
until  late  on  the  31st,  when  some  movement  of  the  British  doubt- 
less led  Davidson  to  suspect  that  they  would  probably  attempt 
to  effect  a  passage  there.  It  was  perhaps  this  which  induced  him 
to  take  direct  command  at  that  place.  When  the  British  arrived  on 
the  morning  of  February  i,  1781,  in  the  midst  of  a  drizzling  rain, 
they  were  surprised  to  see  the  camp  fires  of  the  Americans,  as 
they  had  thought  the  ford  unguarded.  Upon  the  first  fire  from  the 
Americans,  the  Tory  guide  deserted  in  the  middle  of  the  stream, 
and  the  British  thus  left  to  their  own  devices,  came  straight  across 
instead  of  following  the  usual  line  of  travel  which  would  have 
brought  them  out  several  hundred  yards  below.  The  obliquity 
of  the  direction  of  the  fire  and  the  darkness  of  the  early  morning 
diminished  the  effectiveness  of  the  resistance  by  the  Americans. 
Upon  realizing  the  condition  of  affairs  Davidson,  who  was  at  the 
main  ford  below,  rallied  his  little  band  of  three  hundred,  and  while 
bravely  leading  them  was  pierced  by  a  fatal  bullet  and  fell  dead 
from  his  horse.  By  this  time  many  of  the  British  had  crossed. 
The  handful  of  Americans,  with  camp  fires  in  the  rear  to  give  the 


WILLIAM  LEE  DAVIDSON  127 

British  a  better  view,  and  with  a  vastly  superior  force  in  front, 
was  forced  to  retreat  and  leave  the  body  of  the  beloved  com- 
mander upon  the  field. 

After  dark,  however,  his  body  was  recovered  by  Richard  Barry 
and  David  Wilson,  who  were  in  the  battle  that  morning,  and  was 
carried  by  them  upon  horseback  to  the  home  of  Samuel  Wilson, 
Sr.,  where  it  was  prepared  for  burial.  The  widow  was  brought 
by  George  Templeton,  who  was  her  nearest  neighbor,  and  the 
body  was  buried  that  night  at  Hopewell  Church,  in  a  grave  which 
is  now  unmarked  except  by  a  pile  of  bricks.  Although  his  career 
was  terminated  when  he  was  but  thirty-five,  he  lived  long  enough 
to  serve  his  country  well  and  to  be  honored  by  the  General  As- 
sembly of  his  adopted  State,  by  the  Continental  Congress,  and  his 
fellow  patriots  in  arms. 

On  September  20,  1781,  upon  motion  of  Mr.  Sharpe,  the  Con- 
tinental Congress  passed  a  resolution,  requesting  the  Governor 
and  Council  of  State  of  North  Carolina  to  erect  a  monument  to 
General  Davidson  at  the  expense  of  the  United  States —  an  honor 
which  was  bestowed  only  a  few  times.  But  during  those  iron 
times  the  cause  of  life  and  liberty  was  so  engrossing  that  there 
was  little  time  or  money  that  could  be  given  to  the  dead,  and 
the  monument  was  not  erected  during  the  existence  of  the  Con- 
tinental Congress.  During  the  first  century  after  the  death  of  this 
patriot,  the  matter  was  taken  up  in  Congress  in  1803,  1824-5,  ''■^^ 
1841-2,  but  without  favorable  consideration,  although  in  1842 
(July  19th)  the  Senate  passed  a  bill  making  an  appropriation 
for  the  monument.  This  bill  was  introduced  by  Senator  Graham, 
whose  father.  General  Joseph  Graham,  was  in  the  battle  of 
Cowan's  Ford,  serving  as  Captain  under  General  Davidson.  From 
1842  until  January  4,  1888,  there  is  no  record  that  any  considera- 
tion was  given  the  matter  by  Congress.  Then,  at  the  instance  of 
the  writer.  Senator  Vance  introduced  a  bill,  passed  by  the 
Senate  on  April  11,  1888,  making  an  appropriation  of  $10,000  for 
this  monument,  but  this  bill  never  secured  favorable  considera- 
tion by  the  House  of  Representatives.  With  this  encouragement, 
however,  the  subject  was  before  Congress  almost  continuously. 


128  NORTH  CAROLINA 

until  January  30,  1903,  when  through  the  efforts  of  Hon.  W.  W. 
Kitchin  a  joint  resolution  introduced  by  him  became  a  law,  mak- 
ing an  appropriation  for  the  erection  of  the  monument  originally 
contemplated  by  the  Continental  Congress.  This  monument  has 
now  been  erected  upon  the  Guilford  Court  House  battleground, 
an  honor  to  General  Davidson,  to  the  Congress  which  authorized 
it  and  to  the  friends  through  whose  efforts  the  law  was  enacted. 
But  Davidson's  name  has  had  other  honors  bestowed  upon  it 
and  with  less  tardiness.  When  Davidson  County  was  established 
in  1822,  the  General  Assembly  named  it  in  honor  of  this  patriot. 
In  1835,  when  the  Presbyterians  determined  to  establish  a  college, 
they  named  it  in  honor  of  William  Lee  Davidson,  whose  sword 
was  subsequently  presented  to  it  and  now  hangs  in  the  Library. 
Perhaps  no  better  estimate  of  the  man  can  be  given  than  that  by 
his  friend  and  fellow  patriot,  "Light  Horse  Harry"  Lee,  who 
said  of  him  with  whom  he  served  long:  "The  loss  of  General 
Davidson  would  have  always  been  felt  at  any  stage  of  the  war. 
It  was  particularly  detrimental  in  its  effect  at  this  period,  as  he 
was  the  chief  instrument  relied  upon  by  General  Greene  for  as- 
sembling the  militia.  A  promising  soldier  was  lost  to  the  country 
in  the  meridian  of  life,  at  a  moment  when  his  services  would  have 
been  highly  beneficial  to  us.  He  was  a  man  of  popular  manners, 
pleasing  address,  active  and  indefatigable." 

W.  A.  Withers. 


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RUFUS  ALEXANDER  DOUGHTON 

ONORABLE  RUFUS  ALEXANDER 
DOUGHTON,  one  of  the  strongest  public  men 
of  the  northwestern  section  of  the  State,  was 
born  at  Laurel  Springs,  Alleghany  County,  on 
the  loth  of  January,  1857. 

The  earliest  of  his  name  to  come  to  America 
was  Joseph  Doughton,  who  came  to  this  country  from  England. 
The  father  of  the  subject  of  this  sketch  was  J.  Horton  Dough- 
ton,  a  farmer  of  Alleghany  County,  whose  energy  and  sterling 
integrity  brought  him  the  entire  respect  of  the  people  of  his 
county,  and  for  some  years  he  was  a  county  commissioner.  His 
practical  judgment  and  acquaintance  with  the  law  and  with  the 
public  concerns  of  his  county  gave  him  such  prominence  that  he 
also  served  as  chairman  of  the  Inferior  Court  of  Alleghany. 

In  his  youth  the  subject  of  this  sketch  was  robust,  and  living 
on  a  farm  he  was  required  to  do  regular  farm-work,  and  he 
learned  at  an  early  age  the  advantage  of  enfergy  and  of  economy 
from  the  precepts  and  example  of  his  father,  while  the  influence  of 
his  mother,  whose  maiden  name  was  Rebecca  Jones,  was  par- 
ticularly strong  on  his  moral  life.  Few  counties  of  the  State  are 
generally  more  prosperous  than  those  of  Alleghany  and  Ashe, 
where  the  farms  are  small  and  grass  grows  to  advantage  and 
stock  is  reared  in  numbers,  nearly  all  of  the  inhabitants  being  in 
comfortable  circumstances  and  having  a  high  appreciation  of  the 


130  NORTH  CAROLINA 

benefits  of  education.  After  attending  the  local  schools,  Mr. 
Doughton  received  the  basis  of  his  education  at  Independence 
Academy  in  Virginia,  and  then  spent  two  years  at  the  University 
of  North  Carolina.  His  inclinations  vi^ere  for  a  professional 
career,  and  he  chose  the  law  as  being  in  accord  with  his  disposi- 
tion and  talents  and  as  opening  up  the  best  avenues  to  success ; 
and  so,  in  1880,  he  took  a  course  in  Law  at  the  University  of 
North  Carolina,  and  having  obtained  his  license,  opened  his  ofKce 
at  Sparta  in  the  Fall  of  that  year  and  soon  became  one  of  the  lead- 
ing attorneys  of  his  section. 

Intelligent,  energetic  and  patriotic,  Mr.  Doughton  was  always 
active  in  public  matters,  and  in  1887  he  was  nominated  by  the 
Democrats  to  represent  his  county  in  the  House,  and  after  a  strong 
campaign — for  the  parties  in  his  county  were  about  evenly  di- 
vided— he  was  elected.  Intimately  acquainted  with  the  matters 
that  affected  the  welfare  of  his  constituents,  he  discharged  his 
duties  as  a  legislator  to  their  satisfaction,  and  he  was  elected 
without  opposition  their  representative  again  in  1889  and  in  1891. 
Becoming  a  good  parliamentarian,  quick  in  apprehension,  careful 
and  painstaking,  he  was  considered,  at  the  session  of  1891,  the 
strongest  member  of  the  House,  and  he  was  elected  Speaker  of 
that  body.  In  the  Speaker's  chair  he  wisely  exerted  his  influence 
and  power  for  those  measures  that  tended  to  the  advancement 
of  the  people  and  of  the  State,  and  he  established  himself  thor- 
oughly in  the  confidence  of  the  public  men  associated  with  him. 

For  some  years  the  Farmers'  Alliance  had  been  powerful  within 
the  Democratic  Party,  and  in  nearly  every  section  its  control  was 
felt  in  determining  the  careers  of  the  public  men.  But  in  Alle- 
ghany County  Mr.  Doughton's  influence  was  a  restraining  force, 
and  the  Democratic  people  did  not  swerve  from  their  party 
allegiance.  He  remained  a  straight-out  Democrat,  and  wisely 
and  prudently  sought  to  safeguard  his  party  from  the  insidious 
undermining  of  the  Populist  leaders. 

In  1892  his  personal  popularity  and  the  strong  hold  he  had 
gained  on  the  respect  and  good-will  of  the  people  led  to  his 
nomination  as  Lieutenant-Governor,  and  he  entered  into  the  cam- 


RUFUS  ALEXANDER  DOUGHTON  131 

paign  with  vigor,  and  largely  increased  his  reputation  as  a  pub- 
lic speaker.  Being  elected  Lieutenant-Governor,  he  became 
ex  ofUcio  the  presiding  officer  of  the  Senate,  and  in  performing 
his  duties  in  that  capacity  he  exhibited  so  much  courtesy  and  such 
parliamentary  skill  as  to  win  the  commendation  of  even  his  politi- 
cal opponents.  At  the  session  of  1895  the  Democrats  were  in  a 
minority  in  that  body,  and  his  position  was  the  more  delicate 
on  that  account,  but  still  his  fairness  and  impartiality  received 
the  praise  of  all. 

He  participated  in  the  various  campaigns  that  have  since  been 
made  in  the  State,  and  has  exerted  all  of  his  influence  for  the 
preservation  of  the  Democratic  organization.  As  a  speaker  he  is 
deliberate,  but  forceful ;  clear  in  his  ideas,  he  expresses  them  in 
an  agreeable  manner,  and  is  very  successful  in  carrying  his 
audience  along  with  him  to  his  own  conclusions.  Indeed,  mingling 
freely  with  the  people  and  conversant  with  their  modes  of  thought, 
he  is  skillful  and  happy  in  presenting  his  views  so  that  they  can  be 
readily  understood  and  appeal  to  the  judgment  of  the  people. 
For  some  years  after  his  retirement  from  the  ofBce  of  Lieutenant- 
Governor  he  devoted  himself  more  particularly  to  his  private 
affairs,  but  in  1903  he  was  again  a  member  of  the  House,  and 
was  recognized  as  a  leader  of  that  body,  being  one  of  the  ablest 
and  wisest  among  the  experienced  public  men  who  were  members 
of  that  session  of  the  Legislature.  His  long  acquaintance  with 
the  financial  afifairs  of  the  State  led  to  his  being  chairman  of  the 
Finance  Committee,  having  supervision  of  the  tax  laws  and  re- 
quiring estimates  of  the  probable  receipts  of  public  funds  as  a 
basis  for  the  appropriations;  he  was  a  leading  member  of  the 
Judiciary  Committee,  and  indeed  in  many  respects  he  was  re- 
garded as  a  leader  of  the  House.  He  led  the  fight  for  an  issue 
of  State  bonds  to  cover  the  deficit  in  the  public  funds,  and  after 
an  arduous  contest  he  was  able  to  secure  the  passage  of  the  meas- 
ure. He  also  supported  the  Watts  Bill,  which  limited  the  manu- 
facture of  spirituous  liquors  to  incorporated  towns  and  left  it  to 
be  decided  by  vote  of  the  people  whether  whiskey  should  be 
sold  in  saloons  or  through  dispensaries  or  its  sale  be  entirely 


132  NORTH  CAROLINA 

forbidden.  This  temperance  legislation  was  intended  more  par- 
ticularly to  arrest  the  debauching  effects  of  the  small  distilleries 
that  had  sprung  up  in  the  country,  where  there  could  be  no 
police  supervision,  and  Mr.  Doughton  in  the  interest  of  the 
country  people  eagerly  pressed  the  passage  of  the  bill,  which  was 
regarded  as  one  of  the  most  important  and  progressive  measures 
yet  proposed  by  the  Democratic  leaders.  His  course  in  this 
matter  well  illustrates  his  general  action  as  a  public  man.  With 
strong  common  sense,  he  knows  the  needs  of  the  people,  and 
he  boldly  seeks  to  promote  those  measures  which  he  believes 
will  be  to  their  advantage  and  will  benefit  the  public  welfare. 
When  he  feels  that  he  is  right,  no  consideration  can  sway  him 
from  his  path,  but  he  goes  forward  with  a  strength  of  purpose 
that  brooks  no  opposition. 

Beginning  life  as  a  hand  on  his  father's  farm,  Mr.  Doughton 
became  a  lawyer  and  then  combined  agriculture  with  his  pro- 
fessional work.  As  he  grew  in  prosperity  he  became  concerned 
in  some  milling  enterprises,  and  his  good  judgment  and  attention 
to  business  having  been  rewarded  with  gratifying  success,  more 
lately  he  has  become  interested  in  banking.  He  is  now  attorney 
of  the  North  Carolina  Railroad. 

Mr.  Doughton  is  a  member  of  the  Masonic  Order,  and  is 
Senior  Warden  of  Sparta  Lodge  423  at  this  time.  He  is  a  mem- 
ber of  the  Methodist  Church. 

On  January  10,  1883,  he  was  married  to  Miss  Sue  B.  Parks, 
and   two  children  have  blessed  their  wedded  life. 

5".  A.  Ashe. 


JESSE  FRANKLIN 


HE  old  English  word  "franklin"  denoted  a  free 
man.  When  we  peruse  the  personal  history  of 
Jesse  Franklin  we  may  reasonably  conclude 
that  there  is  something  in  a  name,  after  all. 
He  was  a  free  man,  belonged  to  a  family 
warmly  attached  to  the  cause  of  freedom,  and 
valiantly  fought  to  make  others  free.  He  was  a  native  of  Orange 
County,  Virginia,  born  on  the  24th  of  March,  1760.  His  father 
was  Bernard  Franklin,  and  his  mother's  maiden  name  was  Mary 
Cleveland.  The  lady  just  mentioned  was  a  sister  of  that  fierce 
and  relentless  mountaineer.  Colonel  Benjamin  Cleveland,  whose 
very  name  spread  consternation  throughout  the  ranks  of  the 
Tories  in  our  War  for  Independence. 

The  first  service  of  Jesse  Franklin  in  the  Revolution  was  when 
he  was  still  a  resident  of  Virginia.  When  about  seventeen  years 
old  he  enlisted,  and  returned  to  his  home  after  his  term  of  service 
had  expired.  Bernard  Franklin  having  determined  to  remove  to 
North  Carolina,  sent  his  son  Jesse  to  spy  out  the  land.  The  lat- 
ter's  choice  fell  upon  a  location  on  the  head  waters  of  Mitchell's 
River  in  Surry  County.  To  this  place  later  came  Bernard  Frank- 
lin with  his  household,  one  of  his  sons  being  Meshach  Franklin 
(then  a  child)  who  afterwards  represented  his  district  in  the 
Congress  of  the  United  States. 

The  lot  of  the  Franklin  family  was  not  a  tranquil  one  in  its  new 
home.     The  neighborhood  was  infested  with  Tories  of  the  worst 


134  NORTH  CAROLINA 

stripe — house-burners,  horse-thieves,  and  desperadoes  of  every 
class,  who  usuahy  made  their  incursions  upon  the  defenceless  set- 
tlements vi^hile  the  men  of  the  families  were  absent  in  the  army. 
But  woe  unto  the  marauders  who  were  caught!  The  Whigs  (usu- 
ally led  by  Colonel  Cleveland)  were  often  addicted  to  the  old 
Scotch  practice  called  Jedwood  justice — to  hang  in  haste  and  try 
at  leisure.  Not  only  in  their  own  neighborhood,  but  many  miles 
away  on  the  far  eastern  confines  of  the  Piedmont  section,  these 
hardy  mountaineers  often  turned  up  when  the  Tories  least  ex- 
pected them.  One  instance  will  suffice,  as  related  by  a  Whig  offi- 
cer. Colonel  Ransom  Sutherland,  in  a  letter  written  many  years 
after  the  war  (April  lo,  1821,)  and  published  in  the  North  Caro- 
lina University  Maga::inc  for  September,  1854.  Sutherland  says, 
speaking  of  the  Tories  who  escaped  from  the  battle  of  Moore's 
Creek : 

"Those  of  the  old  Regulators,  now  Tories,  that  got  home  betook 
themselves  to  the  woods  like  outlaws  (I  mean  their  leaders),  and 
continued  to  commit  depredations  on  the  lives  and  properties  of  those 
who  had  been  active  against  them.  I  myself  was  the  first  who  fell 
a  victim  to  their  malice  as  to  property.  In  a  few  days  after  the  battle 
of  the  Bridge,  a  party  assembled  in  the  night  at  my  residence,  then 
in  the  midst  of  them,  set  fire  to  my  houses  and  burned  them  down. 
One  of  these  was  a  well-finished  dwelling  house;  another  a  store- 
house, with  about  $3,000  worth  of  goods  and  upwards  of  $1,000  in  cash, 
and  all  my  books  and  papers  for  upwards  of  seven  years'  dealing. 
This  stroke  threw  me  into  a  state  of  complete  bankruptcy.  But  Col- 
onel Cleveland  from  the  mountains  came  down  with  a  party  of  men, 
scoured  the  country,  picked  up  some  of  the  outlaws,  and  hung  several 
of  them  to  trees  in  the  woods.  One  of  them — a  Captain  Jackson  as 
he  called  himself — was  hung  within  half  a  mile  of  the  place  on  which 
my  houses  had  stood  that  he  caused  to  be  burnt.  I  do  not  recollect 
to  have  heard  much  more  of  those  wretches  after  Cleveland  had  done 
with  them." 

At  the  time  of  the  Revolution  Colonel  Sutherland  lived  in 
Caswell  County  (until  1777  a  part  of  Orange),  but  later  removed 
to  Wake.  We  have  quoted  his  reference  to  the  above  incident 
concerning  Colonel  Cleveland  because  Franklin  was  Adjutant 
of  Cleveland's  regiment. 


JESSE  FRANKLIN  135 

At  the  bloody  battle  of  King's  Mountain,  October  7,  1780,  Ad- 
jutant Franklin  greatly  distinguished  himself.  Captain  Samuel 
Ryerson,  a  brave  loyalist  who  had  fought  with  the  foremost  on 
his  side,  and  had  been  wounded  more  than  once,  surrendered  to 
Franklin  when  he  saw  that  further  resistance  was  fruitless.  In 
tendering  his  sword,  Ryerson  remarked :  ''You  deserve  it,  sir." 
In  the  work  entitled  '"King's  Mountain  and  its  Heroes,"  by  Ly- 
man C.  Draper,  this  circumstance  is  recorded,  and  in  another  part 
of  the  volume  is  a  sketch  of  Franklin,  from  which  we  make  the 
following  extract : 

"On  one  occasion  a  Tory  party  under  Jo  Lasefield  captured  him 
and  had  him  ready  to  swing  off,  when  he  said:  'You  have  me  com- 
pletely in  your  power!  But  if  you  hang  me,  it  will  prove  the  dearest 
days  work  you  ever  performed,  for  Uncle  Ben  Cleveland  will  pur- 
sue you  like  a  bloodhound,  and  he  will  never  cease  the  chase  while 
a  solitary  one  of  you  survives.'  Though  they  hung  him,  the  bridle 
with  which  they  did  it  broke,  and  he  fortunately  dropped  into  the 
saddle  of  his  horse,  bounded  away,  and  escaped.  Besides  his  service 
at  King's  Mountain,  he  participated  in  Guilford  Battle,  and  attained 
the  rank  of  Major  before  the  close  of  the  war." 

One  of  the  descendants  of  Jesse  Franklin  was  the  late  Judge 
Jesse  Franklin  Graves,  of  Surry  County,  a  gentleman  in  every 
way  worthy  of  his  descent,  who  wrote  two  sketches  of  his  ances- 
tor. The  first  appeared  (1856)  in  the  second  series  of  "The  Old 
North  State,"  a  volume  by  E.  W.  Caruthers,  who  described  the 
sketch's  author  as  "a  young  lawyer  residing  at  Mount  Airy."  The 
second  production  was  put  forth  when  this  young  lawyer  had 
passed  the  meridian  of  life  and  retired  from  the  bench  with  high 
honors.  He  was,  in  the  latter  instance,  called  upon  for  an  address 
at  Guilford  battleground  when  a  monument  had  been  erected  by 
Governor  Thomas  M.  Holt,  bearing  the  names  of  Joseph  Win- 
ston, Jesse  Franklin,  and  Richard  Talliaferro.  Of  Franklin, 
Judge  Graves  said  in  part :  "I  am  proud  of  North  Carolina  and  all 
that  her  sons  have  done ;  but  I  am  before  you  with  peculiar  pride 
for  the  reason  that  Jesse  Franklin,  my  grandfather,  was  in  the 
bloody  contest  on  this  battlefield,  and  I  admit  that  I  am  proud  to 
see  his  name  inscribed  on  the  beautiful  monument  which  is  dedi- 


136  NORTH  CAROLINA 

cated  to  the  memory  of  the  heroes  who  here  turned  back  the  proud 

invaders Jesse  Franklin's  mother  was  a  sister 

of  the  noted  Whig  leader,  Benjamin  Cleveland,  and  the  brave  old 
Colonel  put  great  confidence  in  his  nephew,  and  placed  him  in 
many  positions  where  his  courage  and  discretion  were  severely 
taxed.  He  always  came  up  to  his  uncle's  high  expectations." 
The  full  text  of  the  address  last  quoted  will  be  found  in  the  memo- 
rial volume  of  the  Guilford  Battleground  Company,  published  in 

1893- 

After  the  return  of  peace,  Jesse  Franklin  received  many  high 
honors  from  his  grateful  countrymen. 

In  1793  and  1794  he  was  a  member  of  the  North  Carolina 
House  of  Commons.  From  December  7,  1795,  till  March  3,  1797, 
he  served  as  a  member  of  the  House  of  Representatives  of  the 
United  States. 

After  his  retirement  from  Congress  he  again  became  a  State 
Legislator,  serving  in  the  House  of  Commons  at  Raleigh  in  1797 
and  1798.  On  December  12,  1798,  the  General  Assembly  elected 
him  United  States  Senator  in  place  of  Alexander  Martin,  for  the 
term  ending  March  3,  1805.  Before  Calhoun  became  Vice-Pres- 
ident the  Vice-Presidents  did  not  usually  preside  over  the  Sen- 
ate, but  the  Senate  elected  Presidents  pro  tempore  who  were  the 
presiding  officers.  In  March,  1804,  Jesse  Franklin  was  thus  elect- 
ed to  preside  over  the  Senate,  and  he  performed  that  duty  until  the 
end  of  his  term.  At  the  same  time  Nathaniel  Macon  was  the 
Speaker  of  the  House ;  so  during  that  year  both  Houses  of  Con- 
gress were  presided  over  by  North  Carolinians.  Probably  no 
other  State  ever  enjoyed  the  same  honor. 

A  few  months  after  his  return  home,  Mr.  Franklin  was  elected 
State  Senator  from  Surry  County  and  served  as  such  in  1805  and 
also  in  1806.  While  the  latter  session  was  in  progress  he  was 
again  elected  to  the  United  States  Senate,  December,  1806,  suc- 
ceeding David  Stone,  who,  however,  defeated  him  at  the  session 
of  December,  1812. 

Mr.  Franklin  was  an  ultra-democrat,  and  in  the  war  of  1812- 
181 5  he  advocated  vigorous  measures' by  the  administration. 


JESSE  FRANKLIN  i37 

After  his  second  retirement  from  the  United  States  Senate, 
Major  Franklin  acted  as  one  of  the  Commissioners  to  sell  lands 
which  had  recently  been  acquired  by  the  treaty  from  the  Cherokee 
Indians.  The  territory  thus  acquired  was  679,189  acres  in  all, 
and  the  sales  by  the  State  opened  up  the  country  in  question  for 
the  use  of  settlers.  He  was  also  on  a  commission  to  treat  with 
the  Chicasaw  Indians,  one  of  his  colleagues  being  Andrew  Jack- 
son. 

On  the  5th  of  December,  1820,  Major  Franklin  was  elected 
Governor  of  North  Carolina;  and  on  the  7th  of  December  he 
took  the  oath  of  office.  He  served  until  December  7,  1821.  In 
his  message  of  November  20,  1821,  to  the  General  Assembly,  he 
declined  a  reelection.    He  was  succeeded  by  Gabriel  Holmes. 

Governor  Franklin  did  not  long  survive  his  retirement  from 
office.  His  death  occurred  in  Surry  County  on  August  31,  1823. 
In  its  issue  of  September  30th  following,  the  Weistern  Carolin- 
ian, a  paper  published  at  Salisbury,  said : 

"Died. — At  his  residence  in  Surry  County,  after  nine  months'  suf- 
fering with  the  dropsy,  Jesse  Franklin,  Esq.,  late  Governor  of  this 
State.  Both  as  a  politician  and  as  a  private  man,  Governor  Franklin  enjoy- 
ed, perhaps,  as  great  a  share  of  the  public  confidence  and  private  esteem 
of  his  fellow-citizens  as  any  contemporary  individual  in  the  State. 
Various  public  trusts  had  been  confided  to  him  prior  to  his  election, 
in  December,  1820,  as  Governor  of  the  State.  For  many  years  he  was 
Senator  in  the  State  Legislature;  was  a  commissioner  with  General 
Jackson  and  General  Meriwether,  who  concluded  a  treaty  of  cession 
with  the  Chicasaw  Indians;  was  also  one  of  the  commissioners  who 
effected  a  treaty  and  the  purchase  of  a  large  section  of  country  from 
the  Cherokees.  He  was  but  a  lad  during  the  Revolutionary  War, 
yet  he  shared  largely  in  the  toils  and  privations  of  the  struggle  for 
our  independence.  By  his  activity  in  the  cause  of  the  Whigs  he  be- 
came peculiarly  obnoxious  to  the  Tories.  They  took  him  prisoner, 
treated  him  with  great  rigor,  and  were  about  hanging  him  when  a 
party  of  Whigs  rescued  him  and  saved  his  life." 

The  maiden  name  of  the  wife  of  Governor  Franklin  was  Meckey 
Perkins.  Of  his  posterity.  Judge  Graves  said,  in  his  Battleground 
address :  "He  left  three  sons  and  five  daughters.      His  descen- 


138  NORTH  CAROLINA 

dants  are  numerous — some  in  North  Carolina,  some  in  Tennessee, 
and  some  in  Mississippi.  Many  of  them  fell  in  the  Confederate 
Armies.'' 

The  widow  of  Governor  Franklin  survived  him  some  years  and 
died  on  February  20,  1834.  In  chronicling  her  demise,  the  Ral- 
eigh Register  of  March  14th  following  contained  this  notice : 

"Died. — At  her  residence  in  Surry  County  »n  the  20th  of  February, 
after  a  very  short  indisposition,  in  about  the  69th  year  of  her  age, 
the  much-lamented  Mrs.  Meckey  Franklin,  widow  and  relict  of  Jesse 
Frankhn,  deceased,  late  Governor  of  this  State.  She  has  left  eight 
children,  a  long  train  of  connections,  and  a  large  circle  of  acquaint- 
ances to  deplore  her  irreparable  loss.  Of  her  it  may  be  truly  said,  one 
of  the  brightest  ornaments  of  society  is  gone.  She  was  one  of  those 
rare  characters  who,  in  her  many  deeds  of  charity  and  benevolence, 
acted  from  disinterested  motives.  The  poor  of  her  neighborhood 
can  well  testify  to  this  amiable  trait  of  her  character.  Without  dis- 
simulation she  extended  the  hand  of  friendship — envy  had  no  do- 
minion over  her — she  never  detracted  from  the  character  of  others. 
'Do  unto  others  as  you  would  have  them  do  unto  you,'  was  her 
golden  rule  of  conduct.  In  all  the  various  relations  of  mother,  mis- 
tress, and  neighbor  she  was  an  excellent  pattern  for  imitation;  and 
in  all  the  social  obligations  of  life  she  was  truly  exemplary  in  the 
discharge  of  her  duty." 

In  his  political  tenets,  habits  of  life,  and  dress,  Governor  Frank- 
lin was  ultra-democratic.  He  would  never  allow  his  portrait  to 
be  painted.  The  biographical  sketch  of  him  in  Caruthers  gives 
an  incident  which  also  shows  that  he  was  not  a  disciple  of  Beau 
Brummel  in  the  matter  of  apparel.  It  seems  that  while  attend- 
ing a  session  of  the  Legislature  at  Hillsboro  he  found  it  necessary 
to  get  some  new  shirts.  The  seamstress  who  made  them  followed 
the  fashion  of  the  day  by  fitting  them  up  with  rufHes  and  frills. 
These,  he  thought,  did  not  become  the  representative  of  a  plain 
people  like  his  constituents,  so  he  altered  the  garments  to  suit  him- 
self by  ripping  off  these  unnecessary  adornments  with  a  pocket 
knife. 

Mafshall  De  Lancey  Haywood. 


ISAAC   GREGORY 


HOUGH  his  services  were  of  too  conspicuous 
a  nature  to  be  entirely  lost  sight  of,  very  few 
of  the  present  generation  are  acquainted  with 
the  career  of  Isaac  Gregory,  a  brigadier-gen- 
eral of  North  Carolina  troops  in  the  Army  of 
the  Revolution.  All  efforts  on  the  part  of  the 
present  writer  to  obtain  the  dates  of  his  birth  and  death  and  other 
important  matters  connected  with  his  personal  history  have  been 
futile;  yet  our  information  concerning  his  public  life — both  civil 
and  military — is  full  and  satisfactory. 

When  the  second  independent  Provincial  Congress  of  North 
Carohna  met  at  New-Bern  on  the  3d  of  April,  1775,  Mr.  Gregory 
was  a  delegate  from  Pasquotank  County  to  that  body.  In  August, 
1775,  another  Provincial  Congress  was  convened,  and  held  its 
sessions  at  Hillsboro,  not  adjourning  till  September  loth.  On 
September  9th  this  body  elected  Mr.  Gregory  lieutenant-colonel 
of  the  Pasquotank  Regiment  of  North  Carolina  militia.  On  the 
same  day  he  was  also  elected  a  member  of  the  Committee  of  Safety 
for  the  Edenton  District. 

Prior  to  1777,  when  the  County  of  Camden  was  erected  out  of 
a  portion  of  Pasquotank,  the  latter  county  was  divided  into  two 
sections  by  the  broad  expanse  of  Pasquotank  River.  On  account 
of  the  difficult  communication  between  these  sections,  two  regi- 
ments of  militia  were  organized  in  Pasquotank;  and,  on  the  22d 


I40  NORTH  CAROLINA 

of  April,  1776,  Lieutenant-Colonel  Gregory  was  promoted  to  the 
rank  of  colonel  and  placed  in  command  of  the  second  regiment 
of  Pasquotank  militia,  Thomas  Boyd  being  at  the  same  time  made 
colonel  of  the  first  Pasquotank  regiment.  On  the  same  day  that 
Gregory  was  elected  colonel  (April  22,  1776)  he  was  also  placed 
on  a  committee  charged  with  the  duty  of  procuring  arms  and 
ammunition  for  the  Continental  troops.  Colonel  Gregory  was  a 
member  of  the  Provincial  Congress  which  sat  at  Halifax  in  1776 
during  the  months  of  November  and  December ;  and  on  December 
23d  that  body  elected  him  a  justice  of  the  court  of  Pleas  and 
Quarter  Sessions  for  the  county  of  Pasquotank. 

To  do  away  with  the  inconvenience  caused  by  the  division  of 
Pasquotank  County  by  the  river,  the  General  Assembly  of  North 
Carolina  decided  to  erect  a  new  county  out  of  that  portion  of  its 
territory  on  the  northeastern  side  of  Pasquotank  River. 
Accordingly,  on  the  19th  of  April,  1777,  Senator  Joseph  Jones 
obtained  leave  of  the  Assembly,  then  in  session  at  New-Bern,  to 
prepare  and  introduce  a  bill  for  that  purpose.  It  was  accordingly 
introduced  into  the  Senate  and  passed  by  that  body  on  the  21st  of 
April,  being  sent  to  the  House  of  Commons  on  the  same  day. 
Having  been  passed  by  the  House  of  Commons  also,  it  was  ratified 
on  the  9th  of  May  and  became  Chapter  18  of  the  Laws  of  1777, 
first  session.  The  new  county  was  called  Camden,  as  a  compli- 
ment to  Charles  Pratt,  first  Earl  of  Camden,  an  English  states- 
man who  had  befriended  the  American  colonies.  By  the  above 
enactment  Isaac  Gregory,  Joseph  Jones,  Lemuel  Sawyer,  Demsey 
Burgess  and  Caleb  Grandy  were  appointed  commissioners  to  fix 
upon  a  county-seat  and  erect  a  court  house,  jail,  etc.  Gregory 
was  the  first  State  Senator  from  Camden  County,  serving  con- 
tinuously from  1778  till  1788,  and  again  at  two  sessions  in  1795 
and  1796. 

On  May  15,  1779,  Colonel  Gregory  was  promoted  to  the  rank  of 
brigadier-general  of  his  district,  being  the  Edenton  District,  in 
which  Pasquotank  and  Camden  Counties  were  included. 

After  the  fall  of  Charleston,  Governor  Caswell  was  appointed 
major-general  by  the  Legislature  to  command  the  militia  forces 


ISAAC  GREGORY  141 


of  the  State ;  and  he  concentrated  the  militia  first  on  Deep  River, 
where  the  regiments  of  Exum  and  of  Jarvis  were  encamped,  and 
these  with  some  other  regiments  formed  a  brigade,  the  command 
of  which  was  conferred  on  General  Gregory,  who  joined  General 
Caswell,  took  command  of  the  brigade,  and  led  it  at  the  battle 
of  Camden,  South  Carolina,  on  the  i6th  of  August,  1780.  Though 
this  battle  reflected  little  glory  on  the  Americans  as  a  whole,  it 
is  the  "concurrent  testimony  of  friend  and  foe,"  as  Schenck  puts 
it,  that  Gregory's  North  Carolina  brigade  won  for  itself  im- 
perishable renown ;  nor  was  there  a  soldier  in  that  brigade  braver 
than  its  leader,  who  received  two  bayonet  wounds  and  had  a 
horse  killed  under  him  in  the  action. 

In  speaking  of  the  affair  at  Camden,  Roger  Lamb  (a  Loyalist 
historian  quoted  by  Schenck)  says :  "The  Continental  troops  be- 
haved well,  but  some  of  the  miHtia  were  soon  broken.  In  justice 
to  the  North  Carolina  militia  it  should  be  remarked  that  part  of 
the  brigade  commanded  by  General  Gregory  acquitted  themselves 
well.  They  were  formed  immediately  on  the  left  of  the  Con- 
tinentals, and  kept  the  field  while  they  had  a  cartridge  to  fire; 
Gregory  himself  was  twice  wounded  by  a  bayonet  in  bring- 
ing off  his  men.  Several  of  his  regiment  and  many  of  his 
brigade,  who  were  made  prisoners,  had  no  wound  except 
from  bayonets." 

In  commenting  on  the  above  account  by  Lamb,  and  similar 
statements  from  other  sources,  Judge  David  Schenck,  in  his  work 
entitled  "North  Carolina,  1780-1781,"  says: 

"The  bayonet  wounds  received  by  General  Gregory,  of  North 
Carolina,  and  the  men  of  his  brigade  attest  the  fact  that  the  militia 
of  North  Carolina  stood  before  this  terrible  weapon  in  the  hands 
of  the  disciplined  regulars  of  the  British  army,  and  grappled 
with  their  adversaries  in  deadly  conflict.  But  few  instances  in 
military  history  occur  where  the  cross  of  bayonets  is  recorded; 
but,  when  so,  the  weapons  were  in  the  hands  of  veterans  who  had 
been  'mechanized'  into  unflinching  soldiers.  I  venture  to  assert 
that  history  does  not  record  another  instance  where  native  courage 
and  a  sense  of  duty  enabled  untrained  militia  to  engage  regular 


142  NORTH  CAROLINA 

troops  with  the  bayonet  and  'force  them  back.'  This  peculiar 
glory  belongs  to  North  Carolina,  by  the  concurrent  testimony  of 
friend  and  foe." 

After  the  rout  at  Camden  many  wild  rumors  were  afloat,  and 
some  histories  (possibly  on  the  authority  of  letters  written  shortly 
after  the  battle)  state  that  General  Gregory  was  there  taken 
prisoner.  In  a  despatch  dated  August  21st  and  addressed  to  Lord 
George  Germain,  Cornwallis  stated  that  General  Gregory  was 
among  the  killed.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  Gregory  escaped,  though 
Griffith  Rutherford,  another  brigadier-general  of  North  Carolina 
militia,  was  wounded  and  captured.  Less  than  a  month  after  the 
battle  the  General  Assembly  passed  a  joint  resolution  (September 
nth)  providing  "that  Brigadier-General  Gregory  be  furnished, 
at  the  expense  of  the  State,  for  immediate  service,  with  a  gelding 
of  the  first  price  in  consideration  of  the  one  by  him  lost  in  the 
late  action  near  Camden." 

Gregory,  no  doubt,  put  his  gelding  to  "immediate  service"  by 
riding  him  back  to  the  front  in  October,  for  he  was  with  the  re- 
mains of  Jarvis's  and  Exum's  regiments,  aggregating  but  200 
men,  operating  with  General  Sumner  in  front  of  Cornwallis,  then 
at  Charlotte ;  and  later  guarding  the  northern  frontier  against 
incursions  from  Virginia.  In  the  Fall  there  was  sharp  skirmishing 
where  he  was  stationed,  with  some  loss  of  life.  The  British 
seized  Norfolk  in  January,  1781,  and  began  their  efforts  to  sub- 
jugate eastern  Virginia  and  the  Albemarle  region  from  that 
point,  as  they  did  the  Cape  Fear  region  from  Wilmington  as  their 
central  stronghold.  General  Gregory  was  again  quickly  in  ser- 
vice on  the  Virginia  boundary;  and  met  the  enemy  on  the  thresh- 
old. It  was  during  this  campaign  that  a  circumstance  occurred 
which  for  a  time  placed  him  under  a  cloud,  though  he  later  was 
fully  vindicated.  Concerning  this  affair,  McRee,  in  his  Life  and 
Correspondence  of  James  Iredell,  says :  "About  this  time  a 
scandalous  attempt  was  made  to  destroy  the  character  of  General 
Gregory,  who,  at  the  head  of  a  portion  of  his  brigade,  was  guard- 
ing the  northeastern  frontier  of  the  State  against  hostile  incur- 
sions, and  especially  against  predatory  parties  from  Portsmouth. 


ISAAC  GREGORY  143 


It  was  cunningly  contrived  that  the  following  letters  should  fall 
into  the  hands  of  the  Americans : 

"  'G.  G. — Your  well  formed  plan  of  delivering  those  people  now  under 
your  command  into  the  hands  of  the  British  General  at  Portsmouth  gives 
me  much  pleasure.  Your  next  I  hope  will  mention  the  place  of  ambus- 
cade, and  the  manner  you  wish  to  fall  into  my  hands,  etc.,  etc.,  etc. 

"  'And  am,  Dr.  Gregory, 

"  'Yours  with  esteem.' 

"  'Gen.  Gregory : — A  Mr.  Ventriss  was  last  night  made  prisoner  by  three 
or  four  of  your  people.  I  only  wish  to  inform  you  that  Ventriss  could 
not  help  doing  what  he  did  in  helping  to  destroy  the  logs.  I  myself  de- 
livered him  the  orders  from  Col.  Siracoe.  I  have  the  honor  of  your  ac- 
quaintance.' " 

"These  notes,"  continues  McRee,  "produced  a  degree  of  excite- 
ment and  alarm  in  the  American  camp  nearly  equal  to  what  would 
have  occurred  had  as  many  fire-balls  exploded  their  magazines. 
For  a  time  universal  distrust  prevailed.  The  General  a  traitor! 
Who,  then,  could  be  trusted?  The  unfortunate  victim  of  this 
foul  conspiracy  was  arrested  and  confined  by  his  own  men,  and 
subjected  to  the  degradation  of  a  trial  before  a  court-martial.  The 
proofs  of  his  innocence,  soon  collected,  were  overwhelming;  and 
he  was  restored  to  his  rank  and  the  public  confidence.  His  high 
spirit  had  been,  however,  incurably  wounded,  and  the  memory 
of  the  transaction  cast  a  saddening  shadow  upon  his  after  life. 
This  was  not  of  the  nature  of  those  stratagems  that  are  sanctioned 
by  military  laws  and  countenanced  by  men  of  honor :  a  base  and 
covert  attempt  to  blast  the  name  of  a  patriot  and  soldier,  it  rivalled 
in  infamy  the  turpitude  of  a  blow  dealt  a  woman  by  a  coward.  It 
is  referred  to  by  Simcoe  in  his  volume  recording  the  services  of 
the  Queen's  Rangers." 

In  the  above  account,  McRee  says  that  copies  of  these  spurious 
notes  were  found  among  the  papers  of  Judge  Iredell,  but  that  this 
account  of  the  affair  from  Simcoe's  work  (McRee's  own  copy 
being  lost)  is  given  from  memory.  He,  therefore,  advises  his 
readers  to  consult  Simcoe.  By  doing  this,  we  are  led  to  view  the 
matter  in  a  light  equally  favorable  to  General  Gregory;  and  it 


144  NORTH  CAROLINA 

gives  us  a  better  opinion  of  the  British,  for  the  affair  was  not  a 
studied  conspiracy  on  their  part,  as  Simcoe's  account  will  show. 
He  says,  in  his  work  on  the  Queen's  Rangers :  "About  this  time  a 
singular  event  took  place.  The  passage  from  the  Great  Bridge 
on  Elizabeth  River  had  hitherto  been  secure;  but  a  party  of  the 
enemy  from  its  banks  fired  upon  a  gunboat  that  was  returning 
with  the  baggage  of  the  detachment  that  had  been  relieved,  and, 
having  wounded  some  of  the  people  in  it,  took  the  boat.  Captain 
Stevenson,  who  had  commanded  at  the  Great  Bridge,  lost  his  bag- 
gage; and,  among  his  papers  was  found  a  fictitious  letter  which 
he  had  written  by  way  of  amusement  and  of  passing  his  time  to 
General  Gregory,  who  commanded  the  North  Carolina  militia 
at  the  west  landing,  detailing  a  plan  which  that  officer  was  to  fol- 
low to  surrender  his  troops  to  Lieutenant-Colonel  Simcoe — the 
whole  plausibly  written  and  bearing  with  it  every  appearance  of 
being  concerted.  The  manner  of  its  falling  into  the  enemy's  hands 
strengthened  these  appearances.  At  first  it  served  for  laughter 
for  the  officers  of  the  Rangers ;  but,  when  it  was  understood  that 
General  Gregory  was  put  in  arrest.  Captain  Stevenson's  humanity 
was  alarmed,  and  the  letters  which  are  in  the  appendix  passed  be- 
tween Lieutenant-Colonel  Simcoe  and  Colonel  Parker,  who  had 
taken  the  boat.  They  prevented  all  further  bad  consequences." 
In  transmitting  to  Colonel  Parker,  of  the  American  forces,  the 
explanation  by  Captain  Stevenson,  Simcoe  wrote  (March  4,  1781) 
as  follows :  "Ties  of  humanity  summon  me  to  declare  that  Cap- 
tain Stevenson  mentioned  to  me,  some  hours  before  it  was  known 
that  the  gunboat  was  taken,  the  fictitious  letters  you  found  among 
his  papers.  At  a  distance  the  matter  appeared  in  a  ludicrous 
light :  as  it  may  otherwise  lead  to  serious  consequences,  I  solemnly 
confirm  the  truth  of  Captain  Stevenson's  explanation  of  the  affair ; 
and  add  upon  the  sacred  honor  of  a  soldier  and  a  gentleman,  that 
I  have  no  reason  to  believe  or  suspect  that  Mr.  Gregory  is  other- 
wise than  a  firm  adherent  of  the  French  King  and  of  the  Con- 
gress." To  this  letter  Colonel  Parker  (on  March  5th)  replied; 
"The  honor  of  a  soldier  I  ever  hold  sacred,  and  am  happy  that 
you  are  called  upon  by  motives  of  humanity  to  acquit  General 


ISAAC  GREGORY  145 

Gregory.  As  to  my  own  opinion,  I  believe  you,  but,  as  the  man- 
agement of  this  delicate  matter  is  left  to  my  superiors,  I  have  for- 
warded the  letter  to  Baron  Steuben,  who  I  trust  will  view  it  in 
the  same  manner  I  do." 

Though  restored  to  his  rank  and  the  confidence  of  his  associates, 
it  was  natural  that  the  feelings  of  General  Gregory  should  be 
"incurably  wounded"  by  the  knowledge  that  his  long,  faithful  and 
valiant  services  should  not  have  rendered  him  safe  from  sus- 
picion of  treachery.  And  yet  the  Americans  who  suspected  him 
are  not  so  much  blameworthy  for  believing  evil  of  any  one  when 
it  is  remembered  that  Arnold,  one  of  their  bravest  generals,  had 
turned  traitor  only  a  few  months  before,  and  was  even  then  fight- 
ing in  the  ranks  of  his  country's  enemies  in  the  very  vicinity 
where  the  Virginia-Carolina  campaign  was  being  carried  on. 

One  of  the  American  privateers  fitted  out  in  North  Carolina 
toward  the  close  of  the  war  was  called  the  General  Gregory. 
While  lying  in  the  Port  of  Edenton  a  mutiny  occurred  on  board 
this  vessel,  and  several  of  its  officers  were  murdered. 

General  Gregory  survived  the  Revolution  some  years.  In  1790 
he  was  living  on  his  plantation  in  Camden  County,  and  is  recorded 
as  owning  twenty-three  slaves.  At  that  time  the  census  shows 
that  at  least  two  persons  were  living  in  the  same  vicinity  who 
bore  the  name  Isaac  Gregory. 

General  Gregory  has  numerous  descendants  now  living,  chiefly 
in  eastern  North  Carolina.  One  of  his  sons  was  General  William 
Gregory  of  Elizabeth  City. 

Marshall  De  Lancey  Haywood. 


THOMAS  JEFFERSON  HADLEY 

JHOMAS  JEFFERSON  HADLEY  is  a  descend- 
ant of  a  line  of  strong,  forceful  and  useful  an- 
cestors. The  founder  of  the  Hadley  family  in 
North  Carolina  was  Thomas  Hadley,  of  Scotch- 
Irish  ancestry,  who,  near  the  middle  of  the 
eighteenth  century,  settled  on  the  Cape  Fear 
River  in  Cumberland  County.  Characterized  by  that  thrift  and 
industry  for  which  the  Scotch-Irish  are  noted,  he  soon  ac- 
quired considerable  property  and  won  a  leading  position  in 
the  life  of  the  community.  Strong  in  his  convictions,  dauntless 
in  spirit,  independent  in  thought,  and  devoted  to  liberty,  he  es- 
poused the  American  cause  in  the  great  contest  with  the  mother 
country,  serving  his  adopted  State  faithfully  both  in  the  halls  of 
Congress  and  on  the  field  of  battle.  In  1776  he  was  chosen  to 
represent  the  town  of  Campbellton,  now  Fayetteville,  in  the  Pro- 
vincial Congress  which  convened  at  Halifax,  November  12th  of 
that  year.  This  was  the  fifth  and  last,  as  it  was  the  most  import- 
ant, of  those  remarkable  provincial  conventions  which  inaugurated 
the  Revolution  in  the  colony  of  North  Carolina  and  organized  the 
government  of  the  independent  State.  On  December  i8th  the  Con- 
gress adopted  the  first  Constitution  of  the  State  of  North  Caro- 
lina, and  two  days  later  elected  Richard  Caswell  governor.  After 
his  term  in  Congress  Thomas  Hadley  entered  the  provincial  army, 
served  with  credit,  attained  the  rank  of  captain,  and,  while  at 


.£>iff  ii/JS  G-  mJUoj?!^  /&  ^ro.J'Tir 


C^^j.?  ^   J'Set-Ji^/f/WTi, . 


THOMAS  JEFFERSON  HADLEY  147 

home  on  leave  of  absence,  was  murdered  by  a  marauding  band  of 
Tories. 

On  his  mother's  side,  too,  Mr.  Hadley  comes  from  a  worthy 
ancestry.  His  maternal  grandfather,  Joseph  Richardson,  repre- 
sented Johnston  County  in  the  General  Assembly  of  North  Caro- 
lina, for  three  terms  in  the  House  of  Representatives,  and  for  two 
terms  in  the  Senate.  His  record  in  the  Assembly  was  satisfac- 
tory to  his  constituents  and  creditable  to  himself. 

Mr.  Hadley's  father  was  Thomas  Hadley,  a  lifelong  and  suc- 
cessful farmer.  Like  his  grandfather  of  the  Revolution,  he  was  a 
man  of  energetic,  forceful  mind  and  character;  of  firm  convic- 
tions, not  hastily  conceived  nor  easily  abandoned;  an  uncompro- 
mising Whig,  and  an  ardent  Prohibitionist.  His  wife  was  Mili- 
cent,  daughter  of  Joseph  Richardson.  She  was  a  woman  of  great 
force,  morally  and  spiritually,  and  her  influence  on  the  develop- 
ment of  the  character  of  her  son  was  very  strong. 

These  characteristics  of  thrift,  industry,  and  sturdy  independ- 
ence of  mind  which  marked  Mr.  Hadley's  forefathers  reappear  in 
a  larger  degree  in  their  descendant,  the  subject  of  this  sketch.  He 
was  born  in  Wayne  County,  North  Carolina,  July  9,  1838.  His 
early  life  was  spent  on  the  farm.  He  was  a  strong,  robust  boy, 
fond  of  sports  and  not  averse  to  work.  Early  put  to  school,  he 
received  such  mental  training  as  the  elementary  schools  of  the 
day  could  give.  In  spite  of  the  traditions  that  have  come  down  to 
us,  and  are  still  kept  feebly  alive  by  those  who  live  only  in  the 
past  and  find  nothing  in  the  present  worthy  of  praise,  those  "old 
field"  schools  were  poor  institutions  of  learning,  both  in  equip- 
ment and  in  methods  of  instruction.  Mr.  Hadley's  early  educa- 
tion was  consequently  very  defective.  His  success  has  come  in 
spite  of  his  faulty  training.  "The  greatest  obstacle  to  my  suc- 
cess in  life,"  he  wrote  on  one  occasion,  "has  arisen  from  want  of 
thorough  training  at  school.  The  cramming  method  then — as  I 
fear  is  too  prevalent  now — instead  of  expanding  and  educating, 
served  only  to  cramp,  enfeeble  and  dwarf  the  mind.  This,  like  all 
other  bad  habits;  became  deeply  rooted,  so  that  all  through  life  I 
have  realized  the  mistake  of  my  school-days.     I  am  sure  nothing 


148  NORTH  CAROLINA 

more  important  can  be  impressed  on  the  student  than  the  absolute 
necessity  of  thoroughness  in  whatever  is  undertaken.  Anything 
short  of  this  is  of  little  value,  if  indeed  it  is  not  altogether  useless 
and  harmful.''  At  the  age  of  eighteen  Mr.  Hadley  left  the  coun- 
try school  and  entered  the  Male  Academy  of  Wilson,  where  he 
spent  one  year  under  the  instruction  of  Mr.  D.  S.  Richardson,  one 
of  the  ablest  teachers  in  North  Carolina.  In  the  fall  of  1858  he 
entered  the  University  of  North  Carolina,  and  was  duly  gradua- 
ted as  Bachelor  of  Arts.  Immediately  upon  graduation  Mr.  Had- 
ley, like  his  ancestor  of  1776,  obeyed  the  call  of  his  State  to  take 
up  arms  in  her  defence. 

With  the  modesty  which  has  always  been  one  of  the  most  no- 
ticeable, as  it  is  one  of  the  most  attractive,  elements  of  his  charac- 
ter, he  did  not  seek  promotion  of  personal  ambition  in  offering 
his  services  to  his  State.  Had  he  sought  high  rank  in  the  army 
he  could  easily  have  attained  it.  Possessing  many  of  the  quali- 
ties of  character  necessary  for  leadership,  as  well  as  the  mental 
and  moral  training  which  fitted  him  for  it,  he  could  also  have  had, 
had  he  wished  it,  the  influence  which  would  have  obtained  for 
him  a  commission  from  the  first.  But  mistrusting  his  own  abili- 
ties, with  an  eye  single  to  the  welfare  of  the  land  he  loved,  he 
offered  his  services  in  the  ranks,  enlisting  in  1862  as  a  private  in 
Company  A  from  Wilson  County.  This  company  became  a  part 
of  the  Fifty-fifth  North  Carolina  Regiment.  The  regiment 
was  organized  at  Camp  Mangum,  near  Raleigh  in  the  Spring  of 
1862,  Colonel  John  Kerr  Connelly  in  command.  Two  months 
later  Mr.  Hadley's  comrades  elected  him  one  of  their  lieutenants. 
His  subsequent  career  fully  justified  their  judgment ;  by  his  cour- 
age and  gallantry  on  the  field  of  battle  Lieutenant  Hadley  won  his 
way  to  the  command  of  his  company. 

The  first  fighting  in  which  Lieutenant  Hadley  participated  was 
as  a  volunteer  in  the  attack  on  Washington,  N.  C,  September  6, 
1862.  From  this  time  until  the  close  of  the  war,  except  during 
an  interval  when  he  languished  in  a  Federal  prison,  he  was  con- 
stantly in  active  service.  In  the  battle  of  Suffolk,  April  30,  1862, 
the  officers  of  the  Fiftv-fifth  North  Carolina  won  "cordial  words 


THOMAS  JEFFERSON  HADLEY  149 

of  commendation"  for  the  admirable  way  in  which  they  handled 
their  men.  Two  months  later  the  regiment  joined  General  Lee 
in  his  invasion  of  Pennsylvania.  During  the  battle  of  Gettysburg 
Lieutenant  Hadley  was  in  the  thickest  of  the  fight.  Those  troops 
killed  "farthest  to  the  front"  were  of  the  Fifty-fifth  North  Caro-. 
lina.  During  the  retreat  from  Gettysburg  the  regiment  formed  a 
part  of  the  rear-guard  of  the  Confederate  Army.  At  Falling 
Water  they  repulsed  a  determined  attack  during  which  Lieutenant 
Hadley  was  wounded.  Throughout  the  campaign  he  had  borne 
himself  with  conspicuous  bravery  and  ability.  But  the  fighting 
even  at  Gettysburg  was  almost  tame  in  comparison  with  that  in 
which  his  regiment  took  part  in  the  Wilderness  in  May,  1864.  It 
was  called  upon  to  bear  the  brunt  of  perhaps  the  severest  attacks 
made  on  the  Confederate  lines  during  the  battle,  but  repulsed 
them  with  great  damage  to  the  enemy  and  severe  loss  in  its  own 
ranks.  A  second  time  a  fearful  wound,  which  disabled  him  for 
several  weeks,  bore  testimony  to  Lieutenant  Hadley's  gallantry. 
His  services  won  for  him  well-deserved  promotion,  so  that  when 
he  was  able  to  take  the  field  again  he  did  so  as  captain  of  his 
company.  During  the  closing  days  of  the  year  Captain  Hadley 
was  engaged  in  the  struggles  around  Petersburg;  and  then  came 
the  inevitable  but  none  the  less  sad  end.  After  Appomattox  the 
men  returned  to  their  desolated  States  to  achieve  greater  victories 
in  peace  than  they  had  won  in  war.  Throughout  the  struggle  no 
man,  whether  in  high  command  or  in  the  ranks,  had  borne  him- 
self more  gallantly  than  had  Captain  Hadley.  As  "the  bravest  are 
the  tenderest,''  so  they  are  the  most  modest.  Conscious  of  hav- 
ing done  his  duty  well,  he  returned  quietly  to  his  home,  took  up 
the  broken  threads  of  his  career,  and  since  then  has  sought  con- 
stantly and  unostentatiously  to  build  up  that  country  in  whose 
defence  he  had  fought  so  well. 

The  call  to  arms  had  interrupted  Mr.  Hadley's  studies.  Im- 
mediately upon  the  close  of  the  war,  therefore,  he  resumed  them 
at  the  University,  received  the  degree  of  Master  of  Arts,  read  law 
under  Judge  William  H.  Battle,  and  was  admitted  to  the  bar  in 
1866.     It  was  a  dreary  outlook  which  the  young  lawyer  faced. 


ISO  NORTH  CAROLINA 

The  State  lay  prostrate  under  the  conqueror's  sword ;  millions  of 
dollars  worth  of  property  had  been  destroyed,  cities  and  towns 
desolated,  highly  cultivated  farms  turned  into  waste  lands.  His 
own  property  had  shared  in  the  general  ruin,  and  necessity  forced 
him  to  devote  his  splendid  talents,  which  would  have  ornamented 
his  profession,  to  other  fields  of  labor.  The  year  after  his  admis- 
sion to  the  bar  he  devoted  to  teaching  in  Kinston,  North  Carolina. 
In  its  results  his  work  was  successful;  but  financially  school- 
teaching  in  North  Carolina  has  never  been  an  attractive  profes- 
sion, and  in  1867  it  was  at  low  tide.  The  stern  and  ever-present 
problem  of  earning  a  livelihood  drove  Mr.  Hadley,  as  it  has  driven 
other  able  men — ^to  North  Carolina's  irreparable  loss — from  the 
schoolroom  to  the  store  and  farm. 

Since  then  those  talents  which  might  have  been  devoted  to  the 
training  of  the  undeveloped  mental  resources  of  the  State  have 
been  devoted  to  the  development  of  her  material  resources.  To 
him,  and  to  dozens  of  other  such  men,  North  Carolina  owes  it  that 
her  industries  have  awaked  from  sleep ;  that  her  hamlets  have 
grown  into  thriving  towns,  and  her  towns  into  busy  cities ;  that 
her  waste  fields  have  been  cultivated  into  garden  spots.  To  this 
great  work  Mr.  Hadley  brought  an  industry  which  never  failed,  a 
thrift  which  never  wasted,  an  energy  which  never  slept,  a  public 
spirit  which  looked  beyond  the  bounds  of  private  advantage,  and 
a  fairness  and  integrity  in  all  his  dealings  which  won  for  him  not 
merely  the  wealth  of  gold,  but  a  greater  wealth  in  the  respect  and 
confidence  of  his  fellow-men. 

In  1867  Mr.  Hadley  was  happily  married  to  Miss  Sallie  San- 
ders, of  Wilson.  From  this  union  eight  children  have  sprung, 
five  of  whom  are  living. 

Among  the  most  important  services  Mr.  Hadley  has  rendered 
his  community,  and  indeed  the  entire  State,  was  the  establishment 
and  organization  of  the  first  system  of  public  schools  in  the  town 
of  Wilson.  Looking  far  into  the  fuure,  he  caught  a  vision  years 
ago  of  the  great  possibilities  which  lay  before  the  people  of  the 
New  South.  He  saw  too  that  they  could  reach  their  full  devel- 
opment and  realize  the  richness  of  their  inheritance  only  through 


THOMAS  JEFFERSON  HADLEY.  151 

universal  education  at  public  expense.  He  therefore  put  himself 
at  the  head  of  a  movement  in  his  own  community  to  establish  a 
system  of  public  graded  schools,  and  became  the  first  chairman  of 
the  board  of  trustees.  These  schools  were  among  the  very  first 
schools  of  this  character  established  in  this  State,  and  from  them 
as  a  radiating  centre  has  gone  out  an  influence  the  greatness  and 
extent  of  which  none  can  measure. 

Among  the  characteristics  which  Mr.  Hadley  inherited  from 
his  Scotch-Irish  ancestors  his  independence  of  thought  is  one  of 
the  most  striking.  Throughout  ail  his  relations  in  life,  in  busi- 
ness, in  politics,  in  society,  in  religion,  he  has  been  his  own  intel- 
lectual master.  One  instance  is  an  illustration  of  this.  Though 
he  has  generally  allied  himself  with  the  Democratic  Party  in  pol- 
itics, he  does  not  do  so  after  the  fashion  of  the  blindly-devoted  par- 
tisan. On  all  great  public  questions  and  political  issues  he  has 
decided  convictions,  arrived  at  only  after  careful  study  and 
thought.  These  convictions  he  expresses  as  nearly  as  possible  at 
the  polls.  Such  consideration  led  him,  for  instance,  to  support 
Mr.  McKinley  on  the  money  issue  in  1896.  He  follows  this  line 
of  action  without  ostentation  and  without  seeking  to  influence  the 
opinions  of  others.  He  has  never  sought  and  never  held  political 
office.  His  has  been  the  life  of  a  quiet  citizen  who  has  chosen  to 
influence  his  generation  and  subsequent  generations  by  the  force 
of  example.  Such  a  life  is  a  striking  illustration  of  the  success 
which  ever  attends  a  strict  and  conscientious  adherence  to  hon- 
esty, truth,  and  justice.  Within  the  bounds  of  these  a  strong  in- 
dependence of  thought  and  action  has  marked  his  career.  These 
qualities,  coupled  with  temperance  and  industry,  are  the  secrets  of 
his  success. 

Though  engrossed  in  the  complicated  aiifairs  of  large  business 
relations,  Mr.  Hadley  has  found  time  to  indulge  a  taste  for  good 
literature.  He  is  a  man  of  scholarly  inclinations,  has  read  much, 
and  has  a  retentive  memory.  With  an  easy  flow  of  language,  he 
is  never  at  loss  for  words  to  express  his  ideas  and  is  an  interesting 
conversationalist.  In  him  is  found  a  rare  combination  of  the  ex- 
perience of  the  man  of  business  and  the  tastes  and  culture  of  the 


152 


NORTH  CAROLINA 


student  and  scholar.  His  success  is  a  vindication  of  the  conten- 
tion that  a  collegiate  and  scholarly  training  is  an  advantage  to  the 
man  of  business,  so  called. 

In  person  Mr.  Hadley  is  tall,  erect,  and  without  stiffness.  He 
is  approachable  without  encouraging  familiarity,  pleasant  and 
easy  in  manner  without  compromising  his  natural  dignity. 

For  nearly  forty  years  he  has  labored  among  the  people  of  east- 
ern North  Carolina.  His  life  has  been  spent  in  times  of  danger, 
in  times  of  poverty,  in  times  of  gloom  and  despondency.  But 
with  a  splendid  faith  in  the  destiny  of  his  country  and  her  people, 
he  has  never  despaired  of  their  final  success.  He  has  seen  the 
community  to  which  he  has  devoted  his  life  grow  from  a  cross- 
roads store  to  a  village,  from  a  village  to  a  thriving  town ;  he  has 
seen  the  people  of  his  State  rally  nobly  after  a  destructive  war, 
and  from  dire  poverty  and  ruin  advance  to  prosperity  and  wealth, 
from  ignorance  and  illiteracy  to  a  high  degree  of  learning  and  in- 
telligence. In  this  wonderful  transformation  he  has  borne  no 
small  part.  By  his  industry,  his  counsel  and  his  success  he  has  set 
an  example  of  encouragement  to  others.  The  influence  of  such 
men  grows  with  the  growth  of  the  State  and  expands  with  the  ex- 
pansion of  her  prosperity. 

R.  D.  W.  Connor. 


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LEO  HMD 

fEW  men  in  North  Carolina  are  better  known 
than  the  Rt.  Rev.  Leo  Haid,  O.  S.  B,  D.  D., 
Abbot  of  Maryhelp  Abb.ey  at  Belmont  in  Gas- 
ton County,  President  of  St.  Mary's  College  at 
the  same  place,  Vicar  Apostolic  of  North  Caro- 
lina, and  titular  Bishop  of  Messene  in  Greece. 
This  eminent  prelate  and  educator  is  a  native  of  Penn- 
sylvania, born  at  Latrobe  in  Westmoreland  County,  on  the 
iSth  of  July,  1849.  ^is  father,  John  Haid,  followed  the  vocation 
of  nurseryman,  and  was  a  man  of  character,  industry  and  firmness. 
The  maiden  name  of  the  Bishop's  mother  was  Mary  A. 
Stader. 

Bishop  Haid  received  his  preparatory  education  in  the  common 
schools  at  his  home,  and  afterwards  entered  St.  Vincent  College 
in  Westmoreland  County,  graduating  therefrom  in  June,  1868. 
Having  determined  to  study  for  the  priesthood,  he  matriculated 
at  St.  Vincent  Theological  Seminary,  and  there  pursued  his  stud- 
ies under  the  Benedictine  Fathers.  He  graduated  in  1872,  and 
also  took  a  course  in  Duff's  Business  College  at  Pittsburg.  His 
first  active  work  was  previous  to  his  graduation  from  the  Theo- 
logical Seminary,  when  in  1869  he  taught  in  St.  Vincent  College. 
He  holds  the  degree  of  Master  of  Arts  from  Duff's  Business  Col- 
lege, and  the  degree  of  Doctor  of  Divinity  was  conferred  upon  him 
by  Rorne.     In  addition  to  his  duties  as  Professor,  he  was  Secre- 


154  NORTH  CAROLINA 

tary  of  St.  Vincent  College,  and  Chaplain  from  January  6,  1873, 
to  July,  1885.  He  was  elected  Abbot  of  the  Benedictine  Order  in 
North  Carolina  on  July  14,  1885,  and  was  consecrated  as  a  Mitred 
Abbot  by  Bishop  Northrop  of  Charleston  on  November  26,  1885. 
On  December  7,  1887,  he  was  made  Vicar  Apostolic  (de  facto 
Bishop  of  North  Carolina)  and  titular  Bishop  of  Messene  and 
was  consecrated  by  Cardinal  Gibbons  on  July  i,  1888.  Bishop 
Haid  was  for  six  years  President  of  the  American  Cassinese  con- 
gregation of  the  Benedictine  Order,  and  is  President  of  the 
Southern  Benedictine  Society  of  North  Carolina.  He  presided 
over  the  Council  of  the  Benedictine  Abbots  of  the  world  at  Rome 
in  1893. 

In  the  Magadne  of  American  History  for  February,  1895,  is  an 
interesting  article  by  Dr.  John  Spencer  Bassett,  entitled  "A  North 
Carolina  Monastery,''  which  speaks  of  the  early  work  of  the  Bene- 
dictine Fathers  at  Belmont,  in  Gaston  County.  In  this  article  it 
is  stated  that  when  Bishop  Haid  was  consecrated  Vicar  Apostolic 
and  Bishop,  "he  refused  to  resign  his  abbatial  position,  and  by  a 
special  arrangement  common  in  ancient  times,  but  never  before 
employed  in  the  United  States,  he  was  allowed  to  fulfill  his  new 
duties  and  still  to  retain  his  office  as  abbot."  The  Benedictine 
Order  in  which  Bishop  Haid  holds  so  conspicuous  a  place,  was 
founded  at  Monte  Cassino,  in  Italy,  about  the  year  529  by  St. 
Benedict  of  Nursia.  Its  great  service  to  the  cause  of  religion  and 
educational  enlightenment  in  Europe  during  the  Middle  Ages  is 
a  matter  of  history.  It  still  flourishes  in  Europe,  especially  in 
Austria,  and  year  by  year  is  gaining  a  stronger  foothold  in  the 
United  States,  where  its  work  is  pursued  with  unabated  vigor. 

On  the  arrival  of  Bishop  Haid  and  his  companions  at  Belmont, 
then  called  Garibaldi,  towards  the  end  of  July,  1885,  they  found 
almost  a  wilderness.  The  farm,  once  good,  had  been  neglected 
during  and  since  the  war ;  the  buildings,  nearly  all  wooden  struc- 
tures, were  unfit  for  their  purposes  and  altogether  inadequate  for 
their  wants.  Undaunted  by  difficulties,  the  little  community  set 
to  work.  Instead  of  repining  or  begging  for  aid,  they  took  upon 
themselves  the  most  menial  tasks,  and  soon  the  scrubbing  brush, 


LEO  HMD  155 


whitewash  and  paint  gave  a  more  inviting  appearance  to  their 
surroundings.  The  reUgious  routine,  observed  for  nearly  1400 
years  in  .Benedictine  Monasteries  in  Europe,  was  introduced  at 
Maryhelp  Abbey,  and  has  not  been  neglected  for  a  single  day 
since. 

The  Bishop  and  the  young  Benedictines  who  accompanied  him 
to  North  Carolina  were  all  graduates  from  St.  Vincent  College,  Pa., 
thoroughly  trained  teacihers,  and  the  following  September  found 
them  in  charge  of  some  fifty  students  from  many  States — some 
from  the  North  who  would  not  part  company  with  their  former  in- 
structors. From  the  very  beginning  the  solid  foundations  were 
laid  for  a  thorough  commercial,  classical  or  theological  education, 
as  the  students  might  select.  Special  care  was  given  to  the  edu- 
cation of  priests  for  North  Carolina.  The  Bishop  found  only 
five  or  six  priests  in  the  State  at  his  consecration  in  1888;  he  has 
since  ordained  no  less  than  thirty-seven.  More  than  twenty 
Catholic  churches  have  been  erected  since  his  advent.  Two  or- 
phan asylums,  hospitals,  parochial  schools  and  female  academies 
testify  to  the  untiring  acivity  of  the  Bishop  and  his  co-laborers. 

While  solicitous  for  the  religious,  educational,  and  charitable 
departments,  the  material  welfare  of  the  institution  was  not  neg- 
lected. The  college  buildings  are  among  the  most  spacious  and 
comfortable  in  the  State.  Electric  lighting,  steam  heating,  sani- 
tary plumbing,  etc.,  add  to  health  and  comfort.  The  grand  Ab- 
bey Church  challenges  the  admiration  of  all  visitors;  its  Munich 
stained-glass  windows  are  not  excelled  in  beauty  by  any  in  Amer- 
ica. 

The  industrial  influence  for  good  has  not  been  lost  on  the  vicini- 
ty. The  farm  is  in  excellent  condition ;  choice  orchards  and  large 
vineyards  are  a  source  of  real  pleasure  and  also  add  to  the  in- 
come of  the  community.  A  fine  herd  of  blooded  cattle  is  com- 
fortably housed  in  the  great  Pennsylvania  barn  which  attracts  so 
much  notice.  The  land  in  the  neighborhood  has  doubled  or 
trebled  in  price  since  the  Benedictine  Monks  have  made  this  their 
home.  Not  satisfied  with  working  in  North  Carolina,  a  very 
beautiful  site  was  secured  on  Clear  Lake,  Pasco  County,  Florida, 


156  NORTH  CAROLINA 

in  1889,  upon  which  was  erected  St.  Leo's  College,  since  elevated 
to  the  dignity  of  an  independent  Abbey  by  Pope  Leo  Thirteenth. 
Situated  in  a  most  charming  and  healthy  part  of  Florida,  the  Col- 
lege has  a  large  attendance  from  the  North,  and  many  of  the  best 
families  in  Cuba  send  their  sons  to  St.  Leo's. 

An  industrial  school  was  established  some  years  later  on  a 
large  tract  of  land  six  miles  south  of  Manassas,  Prince  William 
County,  Va.  In  this,  now  a  flourishing  institution,  a  thorough  com- 
mercial education  is  given,  almost  gratis,  by  the  Benedictine 
Fathers  from  North  Carolina.  The  large  farm  afifords  a  splen- 
did opportunity  to  instruct  the  older  boys  practically  in  agricul- 
tural pursuits.  Indefatigable  in  his  zeal,  the  Bishop  in  1902 
opened  a  Benedictine  College  in  Savannah,  Ga.  For  many 
reasons  the  military  feature  was  introduced,  and  the  "Benedictine 
Cadets"  have  already  gained  an  enviable  reputation.  The  Gov- 
ernor of  Georgia  acknowledged  their  military  standing  by  sending 
commissions  to  the  officers.  Though  in  its  infancy,  this  military 
college  promises  to  become  one  of  the  leading  educational  insti- 
tutions in  Georgia.  It  will  be  evident  from  what  is  here  only 
mentioned  that  Bishop  Haid  and  the  young  Benedictines  working 
with  him  are  true  to  the  noble  traditions  of  their  illustrious  order. 
North  Carolina  is  certainly  very  fortunate  in  having  such  a  body 
of  able,  energetic,  conscientious  men  in  its  boundaries.  Their 
motto  is  "In  omnibus  glorificetur  Deus,"  which  they  received  in 
the  religious  rule  written  by  St.  Benedict  at  Monte  Cassino,  Italy, 
1400  years  ago. 

As  a  matter  of  cour.se.  Bishop  Haid  is  precluded  by  his  sacred 
calling  from  an  active  participation  in  the  politics  of  the  day,  but 
he  exercises  his  right  of  suffrage,  as  every  good  citizen  should. 
In  so  doing  he  has  identified  himself  with  the  Democratic  Party, 
and  still  holds  to  the  principles  of  that  organization. 

Though  no  longer  to  be  classed  as  a  young  man,  Bishop  Haid 
is  still  in  the  prime  vigor  of  life;  and,  in  all  human  probabihty, 
has  many  years  of  religious  activity  yet  before  him. 

His  life's  work  has  been,  to  a  great  extent,  merged  in  that  of  the 
order  of  which  he  is  the  head  in  North  Carolina,  but  his  person- 


LEO  HMD  157 


ality  is  one  which  must  appeal  to  any  one  even  apart  from  his  posi- 
tion or  calHng. 

The  seriousness  of  speech  and  action  which  might  be  expected 
from  his  German  ancestry  is  mingled  with  a  ready  wit  and  keen 
sense  of  humor. 

Of  slightly  more  than  medium  height,  slender  and  erect,  with 
long  brown  beard  and  dark  curly  hair,  both  liberally  sprinkled 
with  gray,  and  quick,  sparkling  eyes,  Bishop  Haid  surely  attracts 
attention  and  quickly  wins  friends. 

As  an  orator  his  reputation  is,  perhaps,  as  great  as  an  adminis- 
trator, but  what  stands  forth  more  prominently  than  either  is  the 
genuine  democracy  of  the  American  citizen  going  hand  in  hand 
with  ihe  dignity  of  the  ecclesiastic. 

Robert  Dick  Douglas. 


HENRY  WILLIAM  HARRINGTON 


'  HE  most  noted  patriot  of  the  Pedee  section  of 
North  Carolina  during  the  war  of  the  Revolu- 
tion was  Brigadier-General  Henry  William 
Harrington,  of  the  County  of  Richmond,  which 
was  a  part  of  Anson  County  when  he  first  set- 
tled there.  This  gentleman  was  born  about  the 
year  1748.  Like  many  of  the  most  active  partisans  on  the  Ameri- 
can side  in  our  War  for  Independence,  he  was  a  native  of  Eng- 
land. From  that  country  he  emigrated  to  the  West  Indian  island 
of  Jamaica,  but  did  not  long  remain  there.  On  coming  to  the 
British  Colonies  from  the  West  Indies,  he  first  made  his  home  in 
the  northern  part  of  South  Carolina  on  the  Pedee  River.  While 
there  he  married  Rosana  Auld.  This  lady  was  a  daughter  of 
Major  James  Auld,  and  her  home  was  Anson  County,  North 
Carolina.  The  latter  circumstance  doubtless  influenced  her  hus- 
band to  take  up  his  residence  in  this  State.  His  removal  to 
Anson  County  occurred  in  1776,  shortly  after  the  beginning  of 
the  war  in  which  he  was  destined  to  bear  an  important  part. 

Harrington's  first  military  commission  in  the  war  was  issued  to 
him  before  he  removed  from  South  Carolina,  he  being  appointed 
Captain  of  a  Volunteer  Company  of  Foot  in  St.  David's  Parish, 
Craven  County,  on  the  3d  of  August,  1775,  by  the  Provincial 
Council  of  Safety.  About  this  time  he  also  became  Chairman  of 
the  Committee  of  Observation  of  St.  David's  Parish.     In  June, 


HENRY  WILLIAM  HARRINGTON  159 

1776,  Captain  Harrington  marched  his  company  to  Haddrell's 
Point,  and  there  took  part  in  the  operations  against  Sir  Henry 
Clinton. 

As  heretofore  noted,  Captain  Harrington  removed  to  Anson 
County,  North  Carolina,  in  1776.  When  Richmond  was  severed 
from  Anson  in  1779,  and  erected  into  a  separate  county,  he  was 
commissioned  colonel  (November  25,  1779)  and  placed  in  com- 
mand of  the  militia  forces  in  Richmond  County.  In  the  spring 
of  1780  he  led  his  regiment  to  aid  in  the  coast  defences  of  South 
Carolina,  there  being  under  the  command  of  General  Benjamin 
Lincoln. 

Immediately,  on  the  capture  of  General  Rutherford,  Colonel 
Harrington  was  promoted  to  the  rank  of  Brigadier-General  of 
North  Carolina  militia  to  succeed  Rutherford.  During  the  same 
year  he  sat  as  a  member  of  the  House  of  Commons  of  the  State, 
representing  Richmond  County.  The  Tories  became  very  active 
at  the  South,  but  Harrington  was  an  efficient  officer  and  success- 
fully suppressed  them.  Early  in  Septem_ber  he  had  a  force  of 
500  militia,  embracing  companies  from  the  Albemarle  and  Cape 
Fear  counties,  at  Cross  Creek.  He  drove  the  Tories  before 
him  and  marched  into  South  Carolina  to  gather  supplies.  At 
length,  however,  the  General  Assembly  appointed  Colonel  David- 
son to  be  Brigadier-General  of  the  Salisbury  District,  and  Har- 
rington thereupon  offered  his  resignation  when  he  had  suppressed 
the  enemy.  That  being  done  in  the  Fall  of  178 1,  he  seems  to  have 
retired  from  the  service,  but  appears  to  have  been  again  active  in 
1782.  He  was  a  very  excellent  officer  and  had  the  full  confidence 
of  his  soldiers.  Like  nearly  all  brave  men,  he  was  generous  and 
merciful  to  a  fallen  foe,  as  well  as  tender  and  affectionate  in  his 
home  life. 

During  the  war  Tories  burned  General  Harrington's  dwelling 
to  the  ground,  robbed  him  at  the  same  time  of  much  personal 
property,  destroyed  a  valuable  library  he  had  collected,  and  kid- 
napped many  of  his  slaves.  One  of  the  persons  largely  con- 
cerned in  this  outrage  settled  in  North  Carolina  after  the  war  and 
Harrington  brought  suit  against  him  for  the  loss  he  had  sustained. 


i6o  NORTH  CAROLINA 

finally  succeeding  in  his  suit  after  a  varied  and  complex  course  of 
litigation.  This  reduced  the  Tory  to  poverty ;  but  Harrington  on 
witnessing  the  distress  of  female  members  of  his  enemy's  family 
at  the  prospect  of  being  turned  out  of  doors,  stifled  the  recollec- 
tion of  past  injuries  and  gave  them  a  deed  for  their  home. 

Another  instance  is  recorded  to  show  the  generosity  of  General 
Harrington.  He  was  riding  with  two  of  his  aide-de-camps 
along  a  country  road,  and  directed  those  officers  to  push  forward 
to  a  neighboring  inn,  while  he  turned  from  the  main  thorough- 
fare to  spend  the  night  with  a  friend.  On  the  General's  return, 
unattended,  he  was  accosted  by  a  highwayman,  who  presented  a 
gun  at  his  breast  before  he  could  reach  for  his  pistols,  and  ordered 
him  to  deliver  his  valuables.  Seeing  himself  at  the  mercy  of  the 
robber,  Harrington  dismounted  and  handed  over  his  purse  con- 
taining five  guineas.  Much  to  his  astonishment  the  highwayman 
took  two  and  considerately  returned  the  other  three  guineas,  re- 
marking that  the  traveller  mi^ht  need  this  money  for  the  ex- 
penses of  his  journey.  General  Harrington  was  then  ordered  to 
walk  about  a  hundred  yards  away  from  his  holster  pistols  while 
the  robber  disappeared  into  the  forest.  At  a  subsequent  period 
this  latter-day  Robin  Hood  was  captured,  together  with  other 
Tory  marauders,  and  sentenced  to  death.  On  recognizing  his 
old  acquaintance,  Harrington  took  him  aside  and  questioned  him 
concerning  his  past  life  and  the  reason  why  he — a  man  apparently 
of  good  impulses — had  fallen  into  evil  ways.  Being  favorably 
impressed  with  replies  to  these  inquiries,  he  offered  the  prisoner 
a  pardon  on  condition  that  he  enlist  under  the  American  banner. 
This  offer  was  accepted,  and  the  former  Tory  became  a  faithful 
soldier  of  Harrington's  brigade  and  one  devoted  to  his  generous 
commander. 

The  above  facts  concerning  General  Harrington  we  have  gath- 
ered from  a  South  Carolina  work  called  the  History  of  the  Old 
Cheraws,  by  the  Right  Reverend  Alexander  Gregg,  Bishop  of 
Texas.    That  work  also  says : 


HENRY  WILLIAM  HARRINGTON  i6i 

"In  person,  General  Harrington  was  small,  but  well  formed  and  hand- 
some. His  education  was  good  and  his  mind  highly  cultivated.  After 
a  life  of  eminent  public  service  and  private  virtue,  he  died  at  his  seat  in 
Richmond  County,  on  the  31st  of  March,  1809,  in  the  sixty-second  year 
of  his  age." 

As  heretofore  mentioned,  General  Harrington  married  Rosana 
Auld.  To  this  union  were  born  four  children :  Rosana,  who  mar- 
ried Robert  Troy ;  Henry  William,  Junior ;  James  Auld,  who  mar- 
ried Eleanor  Wilson ;  and  Harriet,  who  married  Belah  Strong. 

In  his  domestic  relations  General  Harrington  was  especially 
blessed.     Of  his  home-life  Bishop  Gregg  says  ; 

"After  the  war  General  Harrington  was  elected  a  member  of  the  Leg- 
islature of  North  Carolina,  and  in  that  and  other  positions  of  trust  served 
his  adopted  State  with  unswerving  fidelity.  Strongly  inclined,  how- 
ever, to  retirement,  he  rather  avoided  than  sought  the  excitements  and 
distinctions  of  public  life,  and  gave  his  latter  years  to  the  peaceful  pur- 
suits of  agriculture,  the  cultivation  of  the  social  relations,  and  the  sweets 
of  domestic  life.  Happily  constituted  for  contributing  to  the  endearing 
pleasures  of  home,  he  was  peculiarly  blessed  in  having  to  share  with  him 
in  those  delights  one  who  was  not  more  admired  for  her  understanding 
and  excellence  of  character  than  beloved  universally  for  those  beautiful 
traits  by  which  the  life  of  woman  in  every  relation  is  adorned. 

General  Harrington  is  recorded  in  the  Census  of  1790  as  own- 
ing sixty  slaves.  He  was  an  indulgent  master ;  and  many  of  his 
negroes,  who  were  kidnapped  by  Tories  during  the  Revolution, 
found  means  to  return  to  him  after  the  war. 

In  1 79 1  the  Legislature  of  North  Carolina  elected  General  Har- 
rington one  of  the  commissioners  to  fix  the  seat  of  government, 
and  a  street  in  the  capital  city  of  the  State  is  named  in  his  honor. 
In  his  1892  Centennial  address  on  Raleigh,  Dr.  Battle  describes 
Harrington  as  "a  planter  of  immense  estates  and  baronial  style  of 
living." 

In  1789,  when  the  first  election  of  trustees  of  the  University  of 
North  Carolina  took  place,  General  Harrington  was  elected  a 
member  of  the  Board  and  served  until  1795. 

As  already  stated,  General  Harrington's  death  occurred  on  the 
31st  of  March,  1809.     Both  the  Raleigh  Register  and  the  Ral- 


i62  NORTH  CAROLINA 

eigh  Star  of  April  13th,  in  that  year,  contained  the  following  obit- 
uary : 

"Died: — At  his  seat  in  Richmond  County,  on  the  31st  ultimo,  in  the 
sixty-second  year  of  his  age.  General  Henry  W.  Harrington.  He  was 
an  active  and  useful  officer,  and  acquired  honor  in  the  Revolution  which 
secured  to  this  country  its  independence.  In  private  life  he  exercised 
all  the  virtues  that  recommend  a  man  to  our  confidence  and  regard.  The 
nicest  sense  of  honor  and  strictest  principles  of  justice  marked  every 
transaction  of  his  life.  In  his  more  domestic  relations  he  was  eminently 
amiable — the  most  tender  and  affectionate  husband,  the  kindest  and  most 
indulgent  father,  a  sincere  and  zealous  friend.  His  memory  will  ever 
be  cherished  by  all  the  virtuous  and  good  of  his  acquaintance." 

A  word  in  conclusion  concerning  the  two  sons  of  General  Har- 
rington may  be  of  interest.  His  elder  son  and  namesake,  Henry 
William  Harrington,  served  a  short  while  in  the  Navy.  His  plan- 
tation in  Richmond  County  contained  13,000  acres.  He  did  not 
marry.  He  represented  his  county  in  the  North  Caro- 
lina House  of  Commons ;  also  in  the  Constitutional  Con- 
vention of  1835,  and  was  among  those  in  the  latter  body  who 
were  active  in  their  efforts  to  secure  the  repeal  of  the  constitu- 
tional provision  aimed  at  Roman  Catholics.  In  the  course  of  the 
debates  he  said  that  twelve  years  before  the  Convention  met,  he 
had  begun  his  efforts  for  the  removal  of  this  "stain  on  the  escutch- 
eon of  North  Carolina."  James  Auld  Harrington,  younger  son 
of  General  Harrington,  graduated  from  the  University  of  North 
Carolina  in  1808,  and  became  a  planter.  He  was  a  citizen  of 
South  Carolina  and  died  in  1835.  His  elder  brother,  above  men- 
tioned, survived  him  many  years. 

Marshall  De  Lancey  Haywood. 


JOHN  HARVEY 


HE  origin  of  the  Harvey  family  in  North  Caro- 
Hna  has  been  the  subject  of  much  speculation 
and  has  been  accounted  for  in  various  ways. 
The  traditional  accounts  credit  Virginia  with 
furnishing  this  distinguished  family  to  North 
Carolina,  but  whatever  may  be  true  of  the  other 
branches  of  the  family,  this  is  not  true  of  the  branch  from  which 
John  Harvey  sprung.  During  the  middle  of  the  seventeenth  cen- 
tury the  first  John  Harvey  of  whom  we  have  any  record,  and  his 
wife  Mary,  lived  "at  ye  Heath  in  Snetterfield  Parish  in  Warwick 
Sheare  in  Ould  Ingland."  One  of  their  sons,  Thomas  Harvey, 
came  to  North  Carolina  some  time  about  1680  as  private  secretary 
to  Governor  John  Jenkins.  He  himself  afterwards  served  as 
Deputy  Governor  during  the  absence  of  Governor  Archdale.  Upon 
his  arrival  here  he  found  others  of  his  name  who  were  already 
prominent  in  the  official  life  of  the  Province.  They  had  settled  in 
Perquimans  County  of  Albemarle  Sound,  occupying  a  strip  of  land 
between  the  Yawpim  and  Perquimans  rivers  known  to  this  day 
as  Harvey's  Neck.  Governor  Jenkins  died  December  17,  1681. 
Within  less  than  four  months  Thomas  Harvey  showed  his  devo- 
tion to  the  memory  of  his  patron  by  marrying  the  bereaved  widow 
Johannah.  In  those  early  days  in  North  Carolina,  when  the  num- 
ber of  men  in  the  Province  greatly  exceeded  the  number  of  women, 
it  was  probably  regarded  as  contrary  to  public  policy  for  a  spright- 


i64  NORTH  CAROLINA 

ly  woman  to  hide  her  charms  behind  a  widow's  veil.  Six  years 
after  her  second  marriage  Mrs.  Harvey  died.  Thomas  Harvey 
bore  his  loss  with  becoming  fortitude  and  within  less  than  six 
months  resigned  his  sorrows  into  the  keeping  of  Sarah  Laker,  the 
daughter  of  a  prominent  colonial  official,  Benjamin  Laker,  and  his 
wife  Jane  Dey.  By  her  Thomas  Harvey  had  three  children.  The 
second  son,  a  Thomas  also,  married  Elizabeth  Cole,  daughter  of 
Colonel  James  Cole  of  Nansemond  County,  Virginia.  This  union 
continued  only  a  few  years,  Thomas  Harvey  dying  during  the 
winter  of  1729.  He  left  four  sons,  Thomas,  John,  Benjamin 
and  Miles.  In  his  will  he  made  provisions  and  left  directions  for 
the  education  of  these  boys ;  another  legacy  in  this  will  was  one  of 
a  hundred  pounds  proclamation  money  for  the  poor  of  Perqui- 
mans County. 

The  second  of  these  four  boys  was  destined  to  become  the  most 
illustrious  of  the  Harvey  family.  John  Harvey  was  born  some 
time  about  1725.  He  married  Mary  Bonner,  daughter  of  Thomas 
and  Abigail  Bonner  of  Beaufort  County,  by  whom  he  became  the 
father  of  ten  children. 

We  know  nothing  about  John  Harvey's  early  life.  As  soon  as  he 
was  old  enough  to  understand  such  things  he  manifested  a  lively 
interest  in  provincial  politics ;  the  traditions  of  his  family,  no  less 
than  his  own  inclinations,  would  lead  him  to  do  so.  Such  a  prom- 
ising young  man,  supported  by  family  influence,  wealth,  and  edu- 
cation, could  not  fail  to  attract  the  attention  of  the  local  politicians 
of  the  popular  party.  He  had  scarcely  laid  aside  his  childish  ways 
before  they  brought  him  forward  as  a  candidate  for  a  seat  in  the 
General  Assembly. 

John  Harvey's  first  service  in  the  Assembly  began  with  the  June 
session  of  1746.  He  took  his  seat  on  the  thirteenth  day  of  the 
month.  From  that  day  to  the  day  of  his  death  the  Assembly  was 
to  be  the  arena  where  he  was  to  win  fame  for  himself  and  help  to 
win  liberty  for  his  country.  He  arrived  one  day  after  the  or- 
ganization of  the  House  which  was  effected  by  the  election  of 
Samuel  Swann  as  Speaker.  The  session  was  a  short  one,  lasting 
but  sixteen  days,  and  Harvey  had  only  to  listen  and  learn. 


JOHN  HARVEY  165 


Harvey  had  entered  the  Assembly,  however,  just  in  time  to  be- 
come involved  in  one  of  the  bitterest  contests  connected  with  our 
colonial  history.  The  early  North  Carolina  charters  had  given  to 
the  counties  of  Chowan,  Perquimans,  Pasquotank,  Currituck, 
Bertie,  and  Tyrrell  the  privilege  of  sending  five  members  each  to 
the  Assembly,  and  had  allotted  to  all  the  other  counties  only  two 
each.  As  these  latter  counties  grew  in  wealth  and  population  they 
looked  with  jealous  eyes  on  the  extra  privilege  of  the  older  coun- 
ties. Rivalries  and  friction  enhanced  by  local  prejudices  arose 
out  of  this  inequality.  By  having  five  members  each  the  northern 
counties  had  a  majority  of  the  Assembly,  and  of  course  controlled 
legislation.  The  southern  counties  could  do  nothing  but  patiently 
await  their  opportunity  to  strike  a  more  nearly  even  balance.  It 
happened  that  just  at  the  time  John  Harvey  entered  the  Assembly 
the  Governor,  Gabriel  Johnston,  a  hard-headed  Scotchman,  threw 
himself  into  the  controversy  on  the  side  of  the  southern  counties. 
In  November,  1746,  he  called  the  Assembly  to  meet  at  Wilmington. 
On  account  of  the  difficulties  in  reaching  Wilmington  at  that 
season  of  the  year,  the  northern  members  had  declared  that  they 
would  not  attend  an  Assembly  held  at  that  place.  Relying  upon 
the  fact  that  they  composed  a  majority  of  the  members,  they  ex- 
pected, of  course,  that  no  session  could  be  held  without  them.  In 
this  they  reckoned  without  their  host.  Little  did  John  Harvey 
and  his  colleagues  think  that  Samuel  Swann  and  his  colleagues, 
for  the  sake  of  a  petty  sectional  advantage,  would  surrender  one 
of  the  most  cherished  constitutional  principles  for  which  the  colon- 
ists had  ever  contended — that  no  number  less  than  a  majority  of 
the  Assembly  ought  to  be  considered  a  quorum.  But  this  is  just 
what  the  southern  members  did,  for  at  the  bidding  of  a  Royal 
Governor  they  formed  a  house  composed  of  less  than  a  majority, 
and  proceeded  to  business.  Only  two  bills  were  passed  at  this 
session — one  to  make  New-Bern  the  capital  of  the  province,  the 
other  to  reduce  the  representation  of  the  northern  counties  to  two 
members  each.  After  this  had  been  done  the  Governor  with  many 
honeyed  words  sent  them  home.  His  management  had  been  suc- 
cessful, but  he  raised  a  storm  he  could  not  quiet. 


i66  NORTH  CAROLINA 

Of  course  the  northern  counties  refused  to  recognize  the  valid- 
ity of  laws  passed  by  this  rump  Assembly.  So  when  the  Governor 
issued  his  writs  for  a  new  election,  commanding  them  to  choose 
two  members  each,  they  refused  obedience,  and  chose  five  each  as 
usual.  John  Harvey  was  one  of  those  elected  for  Perquimans. 
But  the  Governor  declared  the  elections  void.  Thereupon  the 
northern  counties  appealed  to  the  King.  The  controversy  was 
long  and  bitter.  Eight  years  passed  before  a  decision  was  reached 
on  the  appeal,  and  during  these  years  the  northern  counties,  refus- 
ing to  send  only  two  members  each — the  only  number  the  Governor 
would  recognize — were  not  represented  in  the  Assembly  of  the 
Province.  It  was  not  until  March  14,  1754,  that  the  Board  of 
Trade  filed  its  report  with  the  King ;  the  decision  was  in  favor  of 
the  northern  counties. 

Governor  Johnston,  dying  in  1752,  did  not  live  to  see  the  end  of 
the  controversy  he  had  helped  to  fasten  on  the  colony.  His  suc- 
cessor was  Arthur  Dobbs.  He  arrived  in  North  Carolina  in  Octo- 
ber, 1754,  bringing  instructions  to  call  a  new  Assembly  in  which 
the  representation  was  to  be  distributed  as  it  had  been  prior  to 
1746.  This  Assembly  met  in  New-Bern,  December  12th.  John 
Harvey  was  returned  at  the  head  of  the  Perquimans  delfegation. 
John  Campbell  was  there  from  Bertie,  leader  of  the  northern 
forces ;  Samuel  Swann  from  Onslow,  leader  of  the  southern  fac- 
tion. The  northern  faction  was  of  course  hostile  to  Swann,  and 
for  the  first  time  in  fourteen  years  an  opponent  for  the  speakership 
appeared.  A  most  interesting  contest  resulted  between  Campbell 
and  Swann  in  which  the  former  was  elected. 

With  his  return  to  the  Assembly  John  Harvey  began  his  long, 
uninterrupted  career  of  service  which  was  to  end  only  with  his 
death.  He  gradually  won  his  way  forward  in  the  councils  of  the 
province  to  a  place  second  to  none.  As  early  as  1756  he  became 
the  recognized  leader  of  the  northern  party.  When  the  Assembly 
met  in  September  of  that  year,  John  Campbell  was  too  ill  to  attend 
and  so  sent  in  his  resignation  as  Speaker.  The  northern  mem- 
bers at  once  nominated  Harvey  to  succeed  him.  It  so  happened 
ho¥/ever  that,  as  Campbell's  resignation  was  unexpected  and  no 


JOHN  HARVEY  167 


one  looked  for  a  contest  for  the  speakership,  several  of  the  north- 
em  party  did  not  arrive  in  time  to  take  part  in  the  election. 
Their  absence  gave  the  southern  members  the  majority  and  they 
elected  Swann.  This  vi^as  the  last  attempt  to  defeat  Swann. 
Events  soon  occurred  which  welded  the  two  parties  together  for 
united  resistance  to  the  encroachments  of  the  Governor,  and  har- 
mony being  the  first  essential  for  success,  Swann  was  allowed  to 
preside  over  the  Assembly  without  opposition  until  he  voluntarily 
resigned  the  honor. 

The  great  event  of  Governor  Dobbs's  administration  was  the 
French  and  Indian  War.  No  man  was  more  British  in  his  enmity 
to  the  French,  or  more  Protestant  in  his  hostility  to  their  religion 
than  was  Arthur  Dobbs.  He  made  the  wringing  of  money  out 
of  the  Province  for  the  prosecution  of  the  war  the  paramount  ob- 
ject of  his  administration.  The  Assembly  met  his  demands  as 
liberally  as  they  thought  the  situation  and  circumstances  of  the 
Province  justified,  but  they  could  not  satisfy  the  Governor. 
Greater  demands  pressed  in  impolitic  language  gave  birth  to  sharp 
controversies  over  the  limits  of  the  prerogatives  of  the  Crown  and 
the  extent  of  the  privileges  of  the  Assembly.  In  these  John  Har- 
vey was  one  of  the  leaders  in  stoutly  maintaining  that  the  only 
authority  on  earth  that  could  legally  levy  taxes  on  the  people  was 
their  General  Assembly. 

While  the  war  occupied  public  attention  little  else  occurred  to 
attract  general  interest.  The  time  and  attention  of  the  Assembly 
were  largely  given  to  schemes  for  internal  improvements.  John 
Harvey  was  concerned  in  much  of  this  uninterestingly  necessary 
work.  He  served  on  most  of  the  important  committees,  and  was 
frequently  called  upon  to  preside  over  the  House  while  in  commit- 
tee of  the  whole.  This  was  the  school  in  which  he  received  the 
training  that  was  to  enable  him  to  lead  the  House  in  the  darker 
days  to  come. 

Governor  Dobbs  died  in  March,  1765,  and  was  succeeded  by 
William  Tryon.  Tryon's  first  Assembly  met  at  New-Bern,  May  3 
1765.  He  laid  before  the  House  some  correspondence  relative  to 
the  establishment  of  a  postal  route  through  the  Province,  and 


i68  NORTH  CAROLINA 

recommended  that  an  appropriation  be  made  for  the  purpose. 
This  was  of  course  a  matter  of  the  first  importance,  and  the  As- 
sembly, desiring  more  information  than  was  then  available,  re- 
solved to  postpone  final  action  until  the  needed  data  could  be  col- 
lected. However,  "desirous  that  a  matter  of  such  public  utility 
should  take  effect"  at  once,  the  House  appointed  a  committee  to 
arrange  with  the  postmaster-general  for  a  temporary  route  until 
more  definite  action  could  be  taken.  The  chairman  of  this  com- 
mittee was  John  Harvey.  The  work  was  pushed  with  vigor  and 
success,  and  a  route  was  laid  out  from  Suffolk  in  Virginia  to  the 
South  Carolina  boundary  line,  a  distance  of  two  hundred  and 
ninety-seven  miles.  In  a  letter  to  Governor  Bull  of  South  Caro- 
lina urging  him  to  have  the  route  continued  to  Charleston,  Gov- 
ernor Tryon  says,  evidently  referring  to  the  committee,  that  the 
route  was  established  through  North  Carolina  ''by  the  assiduity  of 
some  gentlemen"  of  this  Province.  It  is  scarcely  necessary  to  add 
that  the  route  proved  of  the  greatest  advantage  to  North  Carolina 
in  the  great  struggle  to  which  the  country  was  approaching,  but 
in  a  way  little  relished  by  William  Tryon. 

In  December  Tryon  dissolved  the  old  Assembly  and  issued  writs 
for  the  election  of  a  new  one.  Nearly  a  year  passed,  however,  be- 
fore he  allowed  the  members  to  come  together,  and  the  Assembly 
did  not  meet  until  November  3,  1766.  On  that  day  Richard  Cas- 
well, representing  Dobbs  County,  "moved  that  John  Harvey,  Es- 
quire, be  chosen  Speaker;  and  (he)  was  unanimously  chosen 
Speaker  and  placed  in  the  chair  accordingly."  And  so  John  Har- 
vey had  at  last  come  to  his  own.  The  place  now  assumed  as 
leadei'  of  the  Province  he  never  lost,  though  once  temporarily  laid 
aside  on  account  of  ill-health.  It  is,  of  course,  impossible  from 
the  bare  records  that  have  come  down  to  us  to  estimate  accurately 
the  exact  share  which  John  Harvey  had  in  the  stirring  scenes 
enacted  in  the  Province  from  now  until  his  death.  But  we  do 
know  that  his  position  as  leader  of  the  Assembly  carried  with  it 
the  leadership  of  the  popular  party  in  the  Province.  How  he  bore 
himself  in  that  exalted  and  responsible  position  the  success  of 
that  revolution  guided  by  him  in  its  inception  bears  witness. 


JOHN  HARVEY  169 


Grave  matters  awaited  the  attention  of  Mr.  Speaker  Harvey 
and  the  North  Carolina  Assembly.  The  Massachusetts  Assembly 
in  February,  1766,  and  the  Virginia  Assembly  in  the  following 
May,  issued  their  famous  circular  letters  to  the  colonies  inviting 
their  cooperation  in  resisting  taxation  by  the  British  Parliament. 
They  protested  against  the  acts  aimed  at  the  regulation  of  the 
internal  policy  of  the  colony,  and  urged  the  evident  necessity  that 
in  their  remonstrances  and  petitions  to  the  King  against  these  acts 
"the  representations  of  the  several  Assemblies  should  harmonize 
with  each  other."  In  November  John  Harvey  laid  copies  of  these 
letters  before  the  North  Carolina  Assembly.  The  members  seem 
to  have  missed  the  real  significance  of  the  proposal  they  contained 
— united  action,  the  thing  most  dreaded  by  the  British  Ministry — 
declined  to  join  with  the  other  colonies  in  their  protests,  and  gave 
John  Harvey  merely  verbal  directions  to  reply  to  the  letters.  A 
committee  was  appointed,  however,  consisting  of  John  Harvey, 
Joseph  Montfort,  Samuel  Johnston,  Joseph  Hewes,  and  Edward 
Vail,  to  draw  up  an  address  to  the  King  for  the  North  Carolina 
Assembly.  Henry  Eustace  McCulloh,  through  Harvey's  influ- 
ence, was  named  agent  to  present  the  address.  Both  Johnston 
and  Hewes  disapproved  of  these  proceedings  and  declined  to  act 
on  the  committee;  the  other  three  members  drew  up  an  address 
and  sent  it  to  McCulloh,  who  duly  presented  it  to  His  Majesty.  In 
his  letter  of  instructions  to  McCulloh,  Harvey  improved  upon  the 
action  of  the  Assembly  by  directing  him  to  act  with  the  agents  of 
the  other  colonies. 

A  new  Assembly  met  in  October,  and  Harvey  was  again  unani- 
mously elected  Speaker.  The  Assembly  and  the  Governor  met  on 
good  terms,  and  at  first  the  business  of  the  session  proceeded  as 
smoothly  as  a  ship  on  the  glassy  bosom  of  a  tranquil  lake.  But 
as  beneath  the  smoothest  surface  often  dangerous  reefs  lie  hid  on 
which  the  unsuspecting  vessel  goes  to  wreck,  so  beneath  the  sur- 
face of  smooth  words  with  which  the  Governor  greeted  the  House 
lay  the  rocks  of  disaster.  In  the  preceding  May  the  Virginia  As- 
sembly had  passed  a  series  of  resolutions  denying  the  right  of 
parliament  to  levy  taxes  on  the  colonies  and  maintaining  the  right 


I70  NORTH  CAROLINA 

of  the  people  peaceably  to  assemble  for  the  redress  of  grievances. 
These  resolutions  were  sent  to  the  Speakers  of  the  several  Assem- 
blies as  the  circular  letters  had  been  sent.  Harvey  laid  them  be- 
fore the  North  Carolina  Assembly  November  2d.  This  time  the 
members  redeemed  themselves  by  spreading  on  their  journal  simi. 
lar  resolutions  as  expressive  of  the  sentiments  of  North  Carolina. 
Vv'hen  Tryon  learned  of  these  treasonable  resolutions  he  declared 
that  they  "sapped  the  foundation  of  confidence  and  gratitude," 
and  therefore  dissolved  the  Assembly. 

When  the  new  Assembly  met  at  New-Bern  in  December,  1770, 
Richard  Caswell  was  elected  Speaker.  It  has  been  frequently 
stated  that  the  Assembly  took  this  step  because  they  were  anxious 
to  placate  Tryon,  and  John  Harvey  on  account  of  his  bold  stand 
for  the  privileges  of  the  people  was  not  acceptable  to  the  Governor. 
Such  a  statement  is  not  only  erroneous,  but  does  a  great  injustice 
to  all  the  persons  concerned.  It  is  an  insinuation  that  the  As- 
sembly could  stoop  to  the  sacrifice  of  their  leader  in  order  to 
please  a  Royal  Governor;  it  is  an  insinuation  that  Tryon  had  no 
better  sense  than  to  bite  at  the  bribe;  it  is  an  insinuation  that 
Richard  Caswell  was  not  true  to  the  interests  of  the  people  and 
was  willing  to  lend  himself  as  a  peace  offering  at  the  expense  of 
his  leader ;  it  is  an  insinuation  that  John  Harvey  was  willing  to 
show  the  white  feather  after  having  so  arrogantly  waved  the  red 
flag.  There  is  no  need  to  seek  such  a  complicated  explanation  of 
such  a  simple  event ;  the  plain  truth  is  that  John  Harvey  was  at 
home  sick  when  the  Assembly  convened  and  so  a  substitute  had  to 
be  found.  What  better  substitute  could  be  found  for  bold  John 
Harvey  than  the  versatile  Richard  Caswell?  It  may  as  well  be 
said  here  thai  John  Harvey's  relations  with  Tryon  were  of  the 
most  friendly,  and  even  confidential,  nature.  In  that  event  in 
Tryon's  career  for  which  he  has  been  most  blamed,  the  Regulator 
War,  he  received  the  sympathy  and  support  of  John  Harvey. 
The  Regulator  disorders  reached  their  climax  at  Alamance,  after 
which  Tryon  went  to  New  York,  and  Josiah  Martin  came  to 
North  Carolina. 

Martin  met  his  first  Assembly  at  New-Bern  November  19,  1771. 


JOHN  HARVEY  171 


Not  many  days  passed  before  he  quarrelled  with  the  House  over  a 
measure  which  he  denounced  as  "a  monstrous  usurpation  of 
authority  that  proves  irrefragably  the  propensity  of  this  people 
to  democracy."  He  little  dreamed  that  the  time  was  near  at  hand 
when  the  proudest  boast  of  "this  people"  would  be  this  very  ''pro- 
pensity to  democracy." 

The  Assembly  did  not  meet  again  until  January,  1773.  Richard 
Caswell,  whose  bold  conduct  had  been  the  cause  of  Martin's  wrath, 
might  very  justly  have  demanded  that  the  members  endorse  his 
conduct  by  reelecting  him  Speaker.  But  realizing  that  it  was  an 
improper  time  for  self-seeking,  he  deferred  to  the  real  leader  of 
the  Assembly,  and  himself  nominated  John  Harvey.  From  this 
session  till  the  end  of  royal  rule  in  North  Carolina  John  Harvey 
was  continuously  elected  Speaker  of  the  Assembly  without  opposi- 
tion. This  January  session  ended  in  confusion.  During  the  pre- 
ceding summer  Governor  Martin,  acting  under  certain  instruc- 
tions from  the  King  which  the  Assembly  had  positively  dechned  to 
follow,  had  caused  the  boundary  line  between  North  Carolina  and 
South  Carolina  to  be  run  in  such  a  way  as  to  operate  to  the  disad- 
vantage of  this  province.  He  now  called  upon  the  Assembly  to 
defray  the  expenses  of  this  work  and  the  House  peremptorily  and 
sharply  refused.  In  order  to  give  them  an  opportunity  to  recon- 
sider their  action,  which,  under  the  rules  of  the  House,  could  not  be 
done  at  that  session,  Martin  prorogued  the  session  from  March  6th 
to  March  9th.  On  the  9th  when  he  was  ready  to  meet  the  As- 
sembly again,  he  found  to  his  astonishment  that  the  majority  of 
the  members  had  gone  home.  He  therefore  convened  the  remain- 
ing ones  and  commanded  them  to  form  a  House.  They  refused 
unless  a  majority  of  the  members  should  return.  When  Martin 
asked  John  Harvey  if  he  expected  a  sufficient  number  to  return 
to  make  a  majority,  Harvey  replied  that  he  had  not  "the  least  ex- 
pectation" that  any  such  event  would  occur.  In  an  outburst  of 
rage  Martin  declared  that  "the  Assembly  had  deserted  the  busi- 
ness and  interests  of  their  constituents  and  flagrantly  insulted  the 
dignity  and  authority  of  government,"  and  forthwith  dissolved 
them. 


172  NORTH  CAROLINA 

It  was  now  becoming  apparent  to  all  Americans  that  if  they 
were  to  make  a  successful  stand  for  their  liberties  they  must  stand 
together.  So  when  John  Harvey  at  the  December  session  in  1773 
laid  before  the  House  letters  from  A'^irginia  proposing  that  each 
colony  appoint  a  committee  of  correspondence  to  keep  in  touch 
with  the  committees  of  the  other  colonies,  the  idea  found  ready 
acceptance.  The  following  were  elected  a  committee  for  North 
Carolina :  John  Harvey,  Robert  Howe,  Cornelius  Harnett,  Wil- 
liam Hooper,  Richard  Caswell,  Edward  Vail,  John  Ashe,  Joseph 
Hewes,  and  Samuel  Johnston.  Thus  North  Carolina  took  her 
first  step  towards  union.  The  next  step  was  the  natural  conse- 
quence of  the  first  and  was  easy  to  take.  This  was  the  call  that 
now  went  abroad  throughout  the  country  for  a  Continental  Con- 
gress. When  Martin  learned  that  North  Carolina  was  deter- 
mined to  join  in  this  Congress  he  determined  to  prevent  it  by  re- 
fusing to  call  the  Assembly  together  until  too  late  to  elect  dele- 
gates. Fortunately  his  private  secretary  communicated  this  in- 
telligence to  John  Harvey.  Harvey  flew  into  a  rage,  and  ex- 
claimed angrily,  "In  that  case  the  people  will  call  one  them- 
selves!" "He  was  in  a  very  violent  mood,"  wrote  Samuel  John- 
ston to  William  Hooper,  "and  declared  that  he  was  for  assembly- 
ing  a  Convention  independent  of  the  Governor,  and  urged  upon  us 
to  cooperate  with  him.  He  says  he  will  lead  the  way,  and  will 
issue  handbills  under  his  own  name,  and  that  the  committee  of  cor- 
respondence ought  to  go  to  work  at  once." 

Harvey's  bold  and  revolutionary  proposition  fell  upon  willing 
ears.  The  people  rallied  to  his  support ;  the  Convention  was 
called;  and  in  defiance  of  Governor  Martin's  proclamation  for- 
bidding it,  met  at  New-Bern,  August  25,  1774.  Seventy-one  dele- 
gates were  present,  among  them  the  ablest  men  in  the  colony. 
When  they  came  to  choose  their  presiding  officer  all  eyes  turned 
to  one  man,  the  father  of  the  Convention,  John  Harvey.  A  series 
of  resolutions  was  passed  denouncing  the  acts  of  Parliament,  stat- 
ing the  claims  of  the  Americans,  and  expressing  approval  of  the 
call  for  a  Continental  Congress  to  which  delegates  were  elected. 
John  Harvey  was  authorized  to  call  another  Convention  whenever 


JOHN  HARVEY  173 


he  thought  it  necessary.  No  more  significant  step  has  ever  been 
taken  in  North  CaroHna  than  the  successful  meeting  of  this  Con- 
vention. It  revealed  the  people  to  themselves;  they  now  began 
to  understand  that  there  was  no  special  magic  in  the  writs  and 
proclamations  of  a  Royal  Governor ;  they  themselves  could  appoint 
delegates  and  organize  legislatures  without  the  intervention  of  a 
king's  authority.  This  was  a  long  step  towards  independence; 
John  Harvey  took  it,  the  people  followed. 

Thwarted  in  his  plans  to  hold  North  Carolina  aloof  from  the 
Continental  Congress,  Martin  made  the  best  of  a  bad  situation  and 
summoned  the  Assembly  to  meet  him  at  New-Bern,  April  4,  1775. 
John  Harvey  immediately  called  a  Convention  to  meet  at  the  same 
place  April  3d.  It  was  intended  that  the  members  of  the  Assembly 
should  also  be  delegates  to  the  Convention.  This  plan  was  care- 
fully carried  out,  though  as  the  Convention  was  a  larger  body 
than  the  Assembly,  there  were  members  of  the  former  who  were 
not  members  of  the  latter.  On  April  3d,  John  Harvey  was  again 
unanimously  elected  Moderator  of  the  Convention,  and  on  the  next 
day  Speaker  of  the  Assembly.  The  peculiar  situation  is  therefore 
presented  of  one  set  of  men  forming  two  bodies — one  legal,  sit- 
ting by  the  authority  of  the  Royal  Governor  and  in  obedience  to 
his  call ;  the  other  illegal,  sitting  in  defiance  of  the  Royal  Govern- 
or's authority  and  in  direct  disobedience  of  his  proclamation.  We 
have  the  curious  spectacle  of  the  Governor  calling  on  the  former 
body  in  the  strongest  language  at  his  command  to  join  him  in  dis- 
persing the  latter  body  composed  of  the  same  men  whose  aid  he 
solicited.  "When  the  Governor's  private  secretary  was  announced 
at  the  door,"  wrote  Colonel  Saunders,  "in  an  instant,  in  the  twink- 
ling of  an  eye,  Mr.  Moderator  Harvey  would  become  Mr.  Speak- 
er Harvey  and  ....  gravely  receive  His  Excellency's  message." 

The  Convention  remained  in  session  four  days.  Its  work  be- 
longs to  the  general  history  of  the  State  rather  than  to  the  biog- 
raphy of  John  Harvey.  The  last  session  came  to  order  at  nine 
o'clock  in  the  morning  of  April  7.  Harvey  was  again  authorized 
to  call  a  Convention  whenever  he  deemed  it  necessary,  but  as  he 
was  in  feeble  health,  the  same  authority  was  granted,  in  the  event 


174  NORTH  CAROLINA 

of  Harvey's  death,  to  Samuel  Johnston.  After  this  one  thing 
only  remained  to  be  done — to  give  expression  of  the  grateful 
thanks  of  the  convention  to  John  Harvey  (now  about  to  retire  for- 
ever from  the  contentions  and  worries  of  earthly  conventions)  for 
the  "judicious  and  faithful"  exercise  of  the  duties  of  his  office 
and  the  great  services  he  thereby  rendered  his  country. 

The  clock  now  pointed  to  the  hour  of  ten  and  the  provincial 
convention  quietly  transformed  itself  into  the  General  Assembly. 
The  Governor's  opening  message  to  the  Assembly  was  as  insulting 
a  document  as  any  minion  of  royalty  ever  wrote  to  the  bold  repre- 
sentatives of  a  free  people,  proud  of  their  freedom.  The  House 
denounced  it  in  a  series  of  vigorous  and  radical  resolutions  which 
they  instructed  their  committee  to  embody  in  their  reply  to  the 
Governor's  message.  When  these  came  before  Martin's  eyes  his 
indignation  and  anger  rose  to  white  heat,  and  in  words  of  wrath, 
April  8,  177s,  he  dissolved  the  Assembly  and  so  put  an  end  for- 
ever to  British  rule  in  North  Carolina. 

During  the  months  of  April  and  May  the  people  of  North  Caro- 
lina saw  many  events  of  far-reaching  significance.  They  saw  the 
assemblying  and  adjournment  of  the  most  revolutionary  body  ever 
held  in  North  Carolina.  They  saw  the  convening  and  dissolu- 
tion, after  a  stormy  session  of  four  days,  of  the  last  Assembly  held 
here  under  royal  rule.  They  saw  the  Governor  of  the  Province 
openly  defied  in  his  palace  at  the  capital,  closely  watched  by  armed 
men,  and  virtually  besieged  in  his  own  house.  They  saw  the  guns 
he  had  set  up  for  his  own  protection  seized  and  carried  off  by  the 
very  men  he  had  been  sent  to  rule.  And  finally,  they  saw  the 
flight  of  the  terrified  ruler  from  his  palace  at  New-Bern  to  the 
protection  of  the  guns  of  Fort  Johnston  at  the  mouth  of  the  Cape 
Fear.  The  atmosphere  was  charged  with  the  spirit  of  revolution. 
Men  sucked  it  into  their  lungs  with  the  very  air  they  breathed  and 
then  showed  it  forth  to  the  world  in  their  acts.  The  Committees 
of  Safety  were  everywhere  active  in  the  discharge  of  their  various 
duties,  legislating,  judging,  executing,  combining  within  them- 
selves all  the  different  functions  of  government.  The  news  of 
the  battle  of  Lexington  spread  like  wildfire  through  the  Province 


JOHN  HARVEY  I75 


and  men  everywhere  flew  to  arms.  The  committee  of  Mecklen- 
burg met  at  Charlotte  and  immortalized  the  31st  of  May. 
The  proceedings  of  the  second  Continental  Congress,  which  met 
amid  all  this  excitement,  were  followed  with  the  keenest  interest. 
Deserted  by  their  Governor,  left  without  a  legislative  body  or  the 
legal  means  of  convening  one,  totally  without  courts  of  justice, 
nothing  was  left  for  the  people  to  do  to  save  themselves  from  an- 
archy but  to  take  the  administration  of  their  government  into  their 
own  hands.  This  they  did,  and  the  people  from  subjects  became 
sovereigns,  from  colonists  became  citizens,  and  their  country  from 
a  Province  became  a  State,  in  reality  if  not  in  name. 

And  so  the  destined  revolution  had  come.  No  man  had  done 
more  to  produce  it  than  John  Harvey.  No  man  watched  its  out- 
come with  greater  hopes.  But  it  is  one  of  the  tragedies  of  human 
life  that  men  often  are  not  permitted  to  see  and  enjoy  the  fruits 
of  their  labors  and  sacrifices.  So  it  was  with  John  Harvey.  On 
the  last  day  of  May  in  the  year  177S,  those  three  sterling  patriots, 
Robert  Howe,  Cornelius  Harnett,  and  John  Ashe,  who  had  fought 
so  many  battles  for  liberty  by  John  Harvey's  side  and  under  his 
leadership,  wrote  to  Samuel  Johnston :  "We  sincerely  condole 
with  all  the  friends  of  American  liberty  in  this  Province  on  the 
death  of  our  worthy  friend  Colonel  Harvey.  We  regret  it  as  a 
public  loss,  especially  at  this  critical  juncture."  Few  the  words, 
but  sincere  the  tribute,  from  those  who  knew  his  virtues  and  ap- 
preciated his  worth. 

R.  D.  W.  Connor. 


WILLIAM  H.  HILL 


HERE  is  a  family  tradition  that  at  the  time  of  the 
marriage  of  Judge  Maurice  Moore,  his  class- 
mate at  Harvard,  William  Hill,  came  from  Bos- 
ton to  the  Cape  Fear  to  attend  the  marriage; 
at  any  rate,  about  that  time,  there  being  much 
communication  and  trade  between  Wilmington 
and  Boston,  and  many  of  the  Cape  Fear  youths  being  educated  in 
New  England,  some  very  bright  young  men  came  from  Boston  to 
make  their  homes  on  the  Cape  Fear,  and  among  them  was  William 
Hill. 

This  gentleman  having  graduated  at  Harvard  in  1756,  at  first 
taught  school  on  the  Cape  Fear,  and  then  became  a  merchant  at 
Brunswick.  On  September  29,  1757,  he  married  Margaret 
Moore,  a  daughter  of  Nathaniel  Moore,  and  a  niece  of  "King" 
Roger  Moore  and  of  Colonel  Maurice  Moore ;  and  thus  he  became 
closely  allied  with  that  large  and  influential  family.  He  himself 
was  always  spoken  of  as  an  elegant  and  accomplished  gentleman 
and  a  noble  man.  The  first  historical  reference  that  is  preserved  of 
him  is  in  the  Journal  of  Josiah  Quincy,  who  visited  the  Cape  Fear 
in  March,  1773,  for  the  purpose  of  arranging  to  establish  a  Com- 
mittee of  Correspondence  on  Public  Affairs.     Mr.  Quincy  says : 

"Lodged  the  last  night  in  Brunswick,  N.  C,  at  the  house  of  Wil- 
liam Hill,  Esquire,  a  most  sensible,  polite  gentleman,  and  though  a 
Crown  officer,   a  man  replete    with    sentiments    of    general    liberty,   and 


WILLIAM  H.  HILL  177 

warmly  attached  to  the  cause  of  American  freedom."  On  March 
28th  Mr.  Quincy's  entry  is:  "I  go  to  church  this  day  at  Brunswick — 
hear  W.  Hill  read  prayers." 

Mr.  Hill  was  a  duly  appointed  lay  reader  for  the  church  at 
Brunswick. 

In  1774  the  chief  question  between  the  Colonies  and  the  Crown 
was  as  to  paying  the  tax  on  tea.  After  a  great  deal  of  agitation 
and  compromise,  it  was  finally  arranged  that  the  Colonies  might 
have  the  East  India  tea  on  such  terms  and  conditions  that  it  was 
thought  all  objection  to  paying  the  duty  would  be  removed;  and 
in  the  fall  of  that  year  some  tea  was  imported  into  the  Cape  Fear 
in  the  brig  Sally,  owned  by  Mr.  Hill,  for  himself  and  others.  On 
November  23,  1774,  the  freeholders  of  the  town  of  Wilmington 
met  and  appointed  a  committee  the  more  effectually  to  carry  into 
execution  the  resolutions  of  the  Continental  Congress;  and  the 
first  matter  brought  before  the  committee  for  action  was  this  im- 
portation of  tea;  and  they  asked  Mt.  Hill  whether  the  tea  might 
not  be  regularly  despatched  out  of  the  Colony  by  the  vessel  it  came 
in.  Mr.  Hill  at  once  replied  that  he  did  not  know  what  the  col- 
lector and  controller  of  the  King's  Customs  might  say  about  that, 
but  he  added :  "The  safety  of  the  people  is,  or  ought  to  be,  the  su- 
preme law;  the  gentlemen  of  the  committee  will  judge  whether 
this  law  (the  safety  of  the  people)  or  an  act  of  Parliament  should 
at  this  particular  time  operate  in  North  Carolina.  I  believe  every 
tea  importer  will  cheerfully  submit  to  their  determination.  I  can 
answer  for,  gentlemen,  your  most  obedient." 

From  this  it  will  appear  that  Mr.  Hill  at  that  early  date  enun- 
ciated the  doctrine  that  the  safety  of  the  people,  as  determined  on 
by  themselves,  was  superior  to  an  act  of  Parliament.  At  that 
time  no  one  had  gone  farther  in  laying  down  principles  for  public 
action.  During  the  course  of  the  Revolutionary  War  Brunswick 
became  so  exposed  that  the  merchants  and  gentlemen  there  aban- 
doned their  homes  and  removed  to  Wilmington.  At  the  end  of 
the  war  Mr.  Hill  had  saved  something  out  of  the  general  impov- 
erishment that  was  the  fate  of  the  Cape  Fear  gentlemen. 

Mr.  Hill  left  four  sons :  John,  Nathaniel,  William  Henry  and 


178  NORTH  CAROLINA 

Thomas.  Nathaniel  was  sent  to  Scotland,  was  apprenticed  to  an 
apothecary  and  received  his  degree  as  a  physician  at  the  Medical 
College  of  Edinburgh,  and  was  a  celebrated  physician  of  Wil- 
mington. Thomas,  the  youngest  son,  was  a  planter,  a  man  of  fine 
culture  and  high  standing,  and  was  the  father  of  Dr.  John  Hamp- 
den Hill,  and  others.  The  eldest  son,  John,  in  1781,  was  an  offi- 
cer in  the  Continental  Line,  fought  with  Greene  at  Eutaw  Springs 
and  continued  with  him  in  the  service  until  peace  was  declared 
and  the  army  disbanded  in  1783.  He  also  left  a  numerous  prog- 
eny, among  his  children  being  Dr.  Frederick  J.  Hill,  of  Orton, 
who  has  been  called  "the  father  of  the  common  school  system  in 
North  Carolina." 

The  third  son  of  Mr.  William  Hill,  William  Henry  Hill,  the 
subject  of  this  sketch,  was  a  lawyer  and  a  planter.  He  studied 
law  under  Mr.  Barrett  in  Boston.  When  North  Carolina  became 
a  member  of  the  Union  in  1789,  General  Washington  appointed 
him  the  first  District  Attorney  of  the  United  States  for  the  Dis- 
trict of  North  Carolina.  He  was  a  gentleman  of  brilliant  parts 
and  finely  educated.  When  about  1794  parties  began  to  rise,  he 
adhered  to  the  administration,  which  was  under  control  of  the 
Federalists.  He  represented  his  county  in  the  State  Senate  in 
1794  and  he  was  a  representative  of  his  district  in  Congress  for 
two  terms  from  1799  to  1803.  Jefferson  had  been  beaten  for  the 
presidency  in  1796  and  Mr.  Hill  was  a  strong  opponent  of  Jeffer- 
son's election.  At  the  next  presidential  election  he  also  was  ac- 
tive against  the  Virginia  statesman,  and  indeed  Jefferson  lost 
three  votes  in  North  Carolina  that  year  which  he  had  carried  four 
years  before.  The  election  was  thrown  into  the  House  and  Mr. 
Hill,  along  with  Dickson,  Grove  and  Henderson,  voted  for  Aaron 
Burr  in  preference  to  Jefferson.  At  that  time  Burr  was  regarded 
as  one  of  the  finest  characters  and  most  admirable  men  in  the 
United  States.  Mr.  Hill  warmly  sustained  the  Adams  adminis- 
tration, and  one  of  the  last  acts  of  President  Adams  on  the  night 
his  term  expired  was  to  appoint  additional  Federal  Judges  under 
an  Act  of  Congress,  known  to  history  as  the  "Midnight  Judges," 
and  one  of  his  appointees  was  the  subject  of  this  sketch.    Jeffer- 


WILLIAM  H.  HILL  179 

son,  however,  ignored  these  appointments  and  they  did  not  take 
effect.  At  the  succeeding  congressional  elections  the  Republi- 
cans in  North  Carolina  made  great  efforts  to  defeat  Hill  and 
Grove,  and  were  successful,  and  Mr.  Hill  retired  from  public  life. 
During  his  service  in  Congress  party  rancor  rose  to  an  unparal- 
leled height;  personal  abuse  and  vituperation  were  commonly  in- 
dulged in,  while  indeed  during  that  formative  period  of  our  insti- 
tutions there  were  those  who  honestly  feared  that  Republicanism 
was  only  another  name  for  anarchy,  and  that  Federalism  was  in- 
consistent with  the  freedom  of  the  people.  So  rancorous  was  the 
animosity  engendered  that  the  outgoing  president,  Adams,  would 
lend  no  countenance  to  the  inauguration  of  his  successor,  but  left 
the  Capitol  and  drove  out  of  the  city  before  Jefferson  took  the 
oath  as  President. 

After  his  retirement,  Mr.  Hill  continued  to  practice  law,  and 
was  an  eminent  advocate;  it  is  said  that  he  had  a  fine  voice,  was 
fluent,  eloquent  and  impressive. 

He  married  first  Elizabeth  Moore ;  then  Alice  Starkey,  both  of 
whom  died  without  issue;  and  finally  he  married  Eliza  Maria 
Ashe,  a  daughter  of  General  John  Ashe. 

In  May,  1784,  Captain  John  Hill  bought  from  Mary  Harnett, 
the  widow  of  Cornelius  Harnett,  an  estate  in  the  suburbs  of  Wil- 
mington. The  name  the  property  bore  at  that  time  was  "May- 
nard,"  and  under  that  name  it  was  conveyed  to  Captain  John  Hill ; 
on  December  9,  1788,  Mr.  Hill  conveyed  that  property  to  his 
brother,  William  Henry  Hill,  who  made  his  home  there,  and 
who  called  it  "Hillton,"  the  name  which  it  has  ever  since  borne. 
Dr.  John  Hampden  Hill  ascribes  the  origin  of  the  name  to  Cap- 
tain Hilton,  who  explored  the  Cape  Fear  in  1663,  the  river  along 
there  being  called  Hilton  River ;  but  the  property  does  not  appear 
to  have  been  known  as  Hilton  prior  to  its  occupancy  by  the  sub- 
ject of  this  sketch. 

Mr.  Hill's  circle  of  friends  was  among  the  most  cultivated  gen- 
tlemen of  the  State,  and  Hillton  was  the  seat  of  that  elegant  en- 
tertainment for  which  the  Cape  Fear  country  was  so  justly  fa- 
mous.   In  December,  1799,  Mrs.  Hill  accompanied  her  husband  to 


i8o 


NORTH  CAROLINA 


Philadelphia.  There  she  met  with  her  first  loss — the  death  of  her 
little  girl.  A  letter  from  Philadelphia  thus  alludes  to  the  inci- 
dent: 

"Mr.  and  Mrs.  Hill  have  gone  to  Bordenton  to  pass  the  remainder  of 
the  summer.  .  .  .  Though  it  is  a  severe  trial  to  their  fortitude,  it  is 
one  happy  effect  of  their  religion  that  it  teaches  them  perfect  resignation 
to  the  will  of  Heaven." 

The  following  children  arrived  at  maturity :  Anna,  who  became 
Mrs.  Charles  Wright,  and  whose  son,  William  Henry  Wright, 
graduated  at  the  head  of  his  class  at  West  Point,  and  was  a  dis- 
tinguished engineer  oificer;  Mary,  who  became  the  wife  of  Dr. 
James  F.  McRee ;  Julia,  who  married  Dr.  Ezekiel  Hall,  and  was 
the  mother  of  Justice  Samuel  Hall  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  Geor- 
gia ;  William  and  Joseph  Alston. 

Mr.  Hill's  useful  and  brilliant  career  was  brought  to  an  untimely 
close  by  his  death  in  1809. 

S.  A.  Ashe. 


JOSEPH  ALSTON  HILL 


[HE  late  Mr.  James  G.  Burr,  of  Wilmington,  has 
left  his  impressions  of  Joseph  Alston  Hill,  a 
son  of  Mr.  William  H.  Hill  and  his  wife,  Eliza 
Ashe,  and  named  for  his  cousin,  Joseph  Als- 
ton, of  South  Carolina. 

He  was  born  at  Hilton,  his  father's  residence, 
in  1800,  and  at  the  age  of  nine  had  the  misfortune  to  lose  his 
father.  His  mother,  however,  directed  .his  education,  and  he 
graduated  at  Yale  College,  and  was  trained  for  the  bar  at  the 
celebrated  Litchfield  Law  School.  He  came  to  the  bar  with  a 
mind  probably  better  disciplined  than  that  of  any  other  man  who 
had  preceded  him  in  North  Carolina.  Thus  prepared,  thus  skilled 
in  dialectics,  with  a  genius  equal  to  the  greatest  occasion  and  lof- 
tiest efforts,  it  is  no  wonder,  says  Mr.  Burr,  though  he  died  at  the 
early  age  of  35,  that  he  left  behind  him  a  fame  co-extensive  with 
the  State.  He  seems  to  have  inherited  rare  oratorical  powers 
from  his  grandfather.  General  John  Ashe,  who  had  the  reputation 
of  being  a  wonderful  orator,  Mr.  Strudwick  declaring  that  there 
were  not  four  men  in  London  equal  to  him.  Mr.  Hill's  gesticu- 
lation was  graceful  and  his  voice  full,  rich  and  flexible.  He  had 
no  rival  of  Jiis  years  as  a  debater  and  orator,  and  no  superior  of 
any  age  in  North  Carolina.  His  talents  were  versatile,  and  he 
could  as  the  occasion  demanded,  convince,  convulse  with  laughter, 
or  move  to  tears.    His  style  was  chaste,  not  florid,  not  disdaining 


1 82  NORTH  CAROLINA 

ornament,  but  using  it  simply  for  illustration,  and  yet  his  oratory 
was  often  fervid.  His  speeches  before  the  Linonian  Society, 
when  a  lad,  on  Fisher's  Resolutions,  on  the  Bank  Bill  and  Tarifif 
or  Nullification,  sustained  what  is  claimed  for  him.  In  the  Inter- 
nal Improvement  Convention  at  Raleigh  in  1833,  he  met  in  debate 
the  ablest  men  in  the  State,  and  the  journals  show  that  he  tri- 
umphed in  carrying  all  the  resolutions  he  submitted,  and  tradition 
reports  that  so  splendid  was  his  exhibition  of  ability  that  his  claim 
to  leadership  was  generally,  if  not  universally,  conceded.  The 
great  question  before  that  Convention  was  whether  the  system  of 
Internal  Improvements  should  be  based  on  lines  running  North 
and  South,  or  on  East  and  West  lines.  Governor  Graham,  then  at 
the  zenith  of  his  fine  powers,  advocated  the  former ;  Mr.  Hill,  the 
latter.  The  late  Mr.  William  Ruffin  portrayed  to  the  writer  the 
great  triumph  which  Mr.  Hill  achieved  on  that  occasion.  Indeed 
Judge  Gaston  is  quoted  by  Mr.  Burr  as  pronouncing  Mr.  Hill  the 
most  brilliant  man  of  his  age  in  North  Carolina. 

In  social  life  without  pretension,  distinguished  for  his  playful 
humor,  his  satire,  which  left  no  sting  in  the  wound,  his  fund  of 
anecdote,  his  joyous  vivacity,  and  his  delightful  abandon,  he  was 
the  centre  of  attraction  always,  and  his  society  was  sought  by 
people  distinguished  for  politeness  and  hospitality  and  somewhat 
given  to  conviviality ;  but  he  did  not  give  entirely  to  society  what 
nature  designed  for  nobler  uses.  He  did  not  neglect  the  duties  of 
his  profession  which  involved  labor  and  study,  and  he  was  so 
close  an  observer  and  so  diligent  a  student  in  his  private  hours 
that  his  advice  was  asked  by  the  old  and  grave,  who  valued  his 
wisdom  and  learning  as  much  as  the  more  volatile  his  pleasantry 
and  fun. 

It  was  in  the  year  1831,  at  the  Fall  term  of  the  Superior  Court 
for  New  Hanover  County,  that  six  negroes  were  placed  on  trial 
for  their  lives  charged  with  attempting  to  excite  an  insurrection 
among  the  blacks  against  the  whites.  The  horrid  massacre  of  the 
whites,  men,  women  and  children,  in  the  Nat  Turner  rising,  had 
recently  occurred,  and  although  there  was  much  feeling  in  the 
community,  the  trial  was  conducted  with  the  utmost  fairness  and 


JOSEPH  ALSTON  HILL  183 

impartiality.  The  negroes  had  the  benefit  of  the  ablest  counsel 
their  owners  could  obtain.  That  distinguished  jurist,  Honorable 
Robert  Strange,  subsequently  United  States  Senator,  and  grand- 
father of  Bishop  Strange,  presided  with  great  dignity.  Mr.  Alex- 
ander Troy  was  Solicitor,  and  the  Court  appointed  Mr.  Hill  to  as- 
sist the  Solicitor,  and  in  fact  he  conducted  the  trial  throughout. 
Mr.  Burr  says : 

"I  shall  never  forget  the  impression  made  upon  me  by  the  death- 
like silence  that  reigned  in  that  crowded  court  room  when  Mr.  Hill 
rose  to  address  the  jury.  His  exordium  was  delivered  in  calm  and 
composed  manner,  and  without  the  least  exhibition  of  feeling,  but 
as  he  proceeded  in  his  argument  he  seemed  to  be  transformed,  his 
crest  rose,  his  form  dilated  and  his  eyes  flashed  continuous  fire, 
while  his  rapid  but  graceful  gesticulation  added  much  to  the  impres- 
siveness  of  the  scene.  His  denunciations  were  overwhelming,  his 
sarcasm  withering,  and  his  burning  eloquence  flowed  onward  and 
onward  like  the  rush  of  a  mighty  mountain  torrent.  The  doom  of 
the  prisoners  at  the  bar  was  sealed ;  it  could  be  seen  in  the  com- 
pressed lips  and  clinched  hands  of  the  jury.'' 

It  was  a  magnificent  effort,  causing  the  heart  to  throb  and  the 
pulse  to  leap  with  a  quicker  beat.     Mr.  Burr  adds : 

"The  six  criminals  who  were  convicted  were  executed  together  on 
the  same  scaffold." 

Mr.  Hill  died  in  the  summer  of  1835  from  an  attack  of  bilious 
fever,  before  he  had  reached  the  prime  of  his  life,  and  in  the 
midst  of  an  active,  useful  and  honorable  career.  He  was  prob- 
ably the  most  eloquent  orator  that  the  State  of  North  Carolina 
has  produced. 

S.  A.  Ash^. 


LEWIS  LYNDON  HOBBS 


EWIS  LYNDON  HOBBS  is  a  native  of  Guil- 
ford County  and  was  born  on  the  17th  of  May, 
184Q,  at  New  Garden,  North  CaroHna.  His 
parents  were  Lewis  and  Phoebe  Cook  Hobbs. 
He  was  named  for  Lyndon  Swaim,  a  highly- 
esteemed  citizen  of  Greensboro  to  whom  his 
father  was  much  attached. 

The  religious  denomination  to  which  President  Hobbs  belongs, 
and  which  founded  the  college  over  which  he  presides,  was  the 
first  to  gain  a  foothold  in  the  Carolina  wilderness.  The  first  place 
of  worship  erected  within  the  State  was  the  Meeting  House  at 
Pasquotank,  finished  in  1703,  which  has  been  standing  until  within 
a  few  years.  George  Fox,  the  founder  of  the  Society  of  Friends, 
himself  came  to  this  settlement  in  1672  to  visit  the  Friends  and 
encourage  them  not  only  in  preaching  the  gospel  to  Indians  as 
well  as  white  men,  but  in  founding  schools  in  which  "their  chil- 
dren should  be  taught  everything  useful  in  creation."  Although 
the  previous  year  Edmundson  found  but  one  Friend  in  the  settle- 
ment, with  such  precepts  and  examples  their  numbers  quickly  in- 
creased, and  it  would  have  been  surprising  had  the  Friends  exert- 
ed a  less  powerful  influence  than  they  did  upon  the  educational, 
religious,  and  social  hfe  of  the  early  settlers,  and  later  upon  the 
communities  where  they  were  established.  Meetings  began  to 
be  held  as  early  as  1677;  and  the  Yearly  Meeting,  composed  of 


LEWIS  LYNDON  HOBBS  185 

the  various  local  Meetings  scattered  throughout  the  colony,  was 
established  in  1698;  and  in  1791  it  was  removed  from  Centre 
to  New  Garden,  where  many  Friends  established  themselves 
earlier  than  1754,  and  where  in  1837  New  Garden  Boarding  School 
was  opened  to  boys  and  girls  alike.  Here  President  Hobbs  re- 
ceived his  preparatory  training. 

His  ancestors  came  from  Pennsylvania  with  the  wave  of 
Scotch-Irish  and  Quaker  emigration  which  swept  southward 
about  the  middle  of  the  eighteenth  century.  His  father  was 
a  teacher,  a  man  above  the  average  in  education  and  spiritual 
refinement,  a  dignified,  lovable  character.  He  taught  in  the 
"little  brick  schoolhouse"  which  the  Friends  of  New  Garden  at 
once  built  near  their  Meeting  House.  He  died  while  still  a 
young  man,  when  his  son  Lyndon  was  only  three  months  old. 
"The  little  boy  will  never  know  his  father,"  he  said  with  regret, 
and  this  has  been  perhaps  the  keenest  sorrow  of  his  son's  life. 

If  he  was  forced  to  begin  life  without  a  father's  love  and  care, 
he  was  doubly  blessed  in  the  strong,  courageous  mother,  who 
filled  to  the  best  of  her  ability  the  place  of  both  parents  to  her 
children.  Inheriting  much  from  his  worthy  father  and  absorb- 
ing the  gentle  and  ennobling  influences  which  his  mother  cast 
about  him,  President  Hobbs  began  early  to  foster  principles  of 
integrity  and  uprightness  and  to  make  the  best  of  the  opportuni- 
ties about  him,  and  even  to  make  opportunities  in  the  midst  of 
difficulty,  in  order  that  he  might  cultivate  his  mind  and  equip 
himself  for  usefulness  in  life.  Having  received  his  preparatory 
training  at  New  Garden  Boarding  School,  now  Guilford  College, 
from  there  in  1872  he  entered  Haverford  College,  near  Phila- 
delphia. This  is  also  a  Quaker  institution,  founded  by  the  com- 
bined action  of  the  Friends  of  New  England,  New  York,  Pennsyl- 
vania and  Baltimore,  and  is  one  of  the  best-equipped  colleges  in 
the  country.  While  there  he  pursued  his  studies  with  a  real  love 
of  learning  and  entered  with  zest  into  the  college  sports,  both  of 
which  characteristics  he  happily  still  retains,  so  that  not  only  in 
the  class  and  lecture  rooms,  but  on  the  ballground  as  well,  the  stu- 
dents have  his  cordial  sympathy  and  cooperation.    Upon  his  grad- 


i86  NORTH  CAROLINA 

uation  in  1876  he  entered  at  once  upon  what  has  grown  to  be  his 
life-work  by  accepting  a  place  as  teacher  in  the  New  Garden 
Boarding  School.  The  classics  were  his  chosen  field,  and  for  sev- 
eral years  his  work  was  largely  confined  to  the  Latin  language 
and  literature.  After  special  work  in  this  direction  he  received 
the  degree  of  A.  M.  from  his  alma  mater.  Since  that  time  he  has 
studied  at  Clark  University,  Massachusetts,  and  has  broadened 
his  culture  by  intelligent  observation  while  traveling  in  Europe. 

In  1888  the  Boarding  School  was  changed  to  Guilford  College, 
with  additional  buildings  and  greatly  augmented  funds,  and  the 
course  of  study  so  developed  as  to  put  it  on  a  par  with  other 
colleges  of  the  State.  At  that  time  L.  Lyndon  Hobbs  was  elected 
by  the  board  of  trustees  as  president,  which  position  he  has  ever 
since  continued  to  occupy.  Entering  zealously  upon  duty  at  the 
school,  he  has  worked  unceasingly  for  the  welfare  and  improve- 
ment of  the  institution ;  and  the  establishment  and  success  of  the 
college  is  due  in  no  small  degree  to  his  faith  in  its  future  and  his 
intelligent  realization  of  its  present  needs  and  opportunities.  Not 
only  has  this  care  been  exercised  towards  better  equipment  and 
larger  endowments,  but  for  the  growth  and  symmetrical  develop- 
ment of  the  individual  students  in  all  that  is  best  and  highest. 
He  moves  among  them  the  embodiment  of  a  cultured  Christian 
gentleman,  courteous  toward  all,  thinking  of  self  last,  without 
guile,  and  his  very  presence  commands  the  putting  forth  of  the 
noblest  and  best  that  is  in  one's  nature.  The  entire  growth  of  the 
college  during  the  fifteen  years  of  his  presidency,  and  the  strong 
young  men  and  women  who  have  received  their  ideals  here  and 
have  gone  out  to  their  work  in  the  world,  will  perpetuate  better 
than  could  any  monument  his  love  and  loyalty  to  the  cause  of 
humanity. 

From  his  youth  a  member  of  the  Society  of  Friends,  he  has  all 
his  life  manifested  an  interest  in  its  welfare.  As  a  boy  he  was 
punctual  at  the  Sabbath  School  and  constantly  attended  the  meet- 
ings held  in  the  old  Revolutionary  Meeting  House  at  New  Garden, 
where  he  had  the  privilege  of  hearing  sermons  from  some  of  the 
most  gifted  ministers  of  the  denomination  both  in  this  country 


LEWIS  LYNDON  HOBBS  187 

and  from  England.  The  seed  fell  into  good  ground  and  has  been 
bearing  fruit  for  years  in  a  simple,  loyal  life  lived  for  others  far 
more  than  for  any  personal  gain  or  glory.  His  attachment  to  the 
church  is  warm  and  sincere,  and  his  execution  of  every  trust  im- 
posed upon  him  is  faithful  to  the  extent  of  his  ability.  He  has  oc- 
cupied almost  every  position  of  service  within  the  denomination, 
having  been  clerk  of  Monthly  and  Quarterly  Meetings,  overseer, 
and  for  many  years  an  elder.  This  position  in  the  Society  of 
Friends  ranks  with  that  of  minister  in  responsibility  and 
importance.  For  several  years  he  has  served  the  whole  body  of 
Friends  in  North  Carolina  as  clerk  of  their  Yearly  Meeting,  an 
office  which  embraces  not  only  clerical  duties,  but  those  of  pre- 
siding officer  as  well.  It  is  often  a  very  difficult  thing  to  judge 
quickly  and  impartially  of  the  merits  and  weight  of  opinions  ad- 
vanced. At  such  times  his  quickness  and  fine  spiritual  perception 
as  well  as  good  judgment  and  perfect  fairness  seem  almost 
marvelous. 

Not  only  within  the  bounds  of  his  own  denomination  has  his 
influence  been  felt.  He  has  been  active  in  every  movement  for 
the  improvement  of  our  public  schools,  and  by  addresses  and  per- 
sonal persuasion  has  forwarded  the  cause  of  local  taxation  for 
educational  purposes.  Largely  through  his  effort  the  first  rural 
graded  school  was  established  in  North  Carolina,  located  in  a 
handsome  brick  building  upon  the  same  piece  of  ground,  but  not 
the  same  spot,  where  his  father  taught  the  children  of  his  day. 
For  four  years  he  was  a  member  of  the  State  Board  of  Examiners, 
and  for  several  years  of  the  County  Board  of  Education.  He  has 
been  chairman  of  the  Guilford  Graded  School  Board  ever  since 
its  formation,  and  devotes  both  time  and  means  to  the  advance- 
ment of  the  children  of  the  community. 

President  Hobbs's  writings  have  been  mostly  lectures,  ad- 
dresses, articles  in  reference  to  the  college  and  its  work  and  in 
reference  to  the  Church  or  for  its  instruction  and  development. 
Duing  his  European  trip  he  wrote  a  series  of  articles  for  the 
college  magazine  descriptive  of  his  travels  or  of  some  phase  of 
life  that  impressed  him. 


i88  NORTH  CAROLINA 

A  man  of  retiring  nature,  he  has  by  no  means  sought  the  honors 
that  have  come  to  him,  but  as  they  come  he  proves  himself  strong 
in  the  assumption  of  them  and  fitted  to  grace  the  position  with 
dignity  and  honor.    In  his  inaugural  address  he  says : 

"In  accepting  the  position  as  first  president  of  Guilford  College  I 
recognize  the  grave  responsibility  which  is  placed  upon  my  shoulders, 
yet  I  am  happy  in  the  belief  that  I  accept  that  charge  with  humility  and 
in  the  fear  of  God,  knowing  full  well  that  with  the  added  responsibil- 
ity will  come  added  strength  for  serving  my  fellow-men  in  the  cause  of 
education.  While  I  have  not  sought  the  headship  of  this  institution, 
since  it  has  fallen  to  my  lot,  I  accept  it  as  a  divine  commission,  and  pray 
to  be  found  faithful  in  the  discharge  of  my  duties,  in  order  to  best  pro- 
mote the  success  of  the  institution  in  its  grand  mission  of  disseminat- 
ing sound  learning  and  molding  Christian  characters." 

This  prophetic  hope  has  been  most  worthily  fulfilled  with  yet 
greater  hopes  for  the  future. 

In  1 88 1  President  Hobbs  married  Mary  Mendenhall,  eldest 
daughter  of  Dr.  Nereus  Mendenhall,  a  well-known  educator  of 
the  past  generation. 

Should  you  ask  that  the  life  of  President  Hobbs  be  summed  up 
in  few  words,  none  seem  more  fitting  than  those  by  the  Psalmist, 
"Thy  gentleness  hath  made  me  great." 

Gertrude  Mendenhall. 


FRANKLIN    P.   HOBGOOD 


fRANKLIN  P.  HOBGOOD  was  born  on  his 
father's  farm  in  Granville  County,  North  Caro- 
lina, February  21,  1847.  His  grandfather, 
Thomas  Fowler  Hobgood,  came  to  this  country 
from  Wales  about  the  year  1770,  and  some 
years  later  settled  in  Granville  County,  North 
Carolina.  His  father,  James  Benton  Hobgood,  was  a  substantial 
farmer,  highly  regarded  for  his  great  force  of  character  and  for 
his  sterling  integrity.  As  an  agriculturist  he  was  energetic,  pro- 
gressive and  successful.  In  the  affairs  of  his  county  and  section 
he  took  an  unfaltering  interest,  and  at  the  time  of  his  death  he 
was  one  of  the  most  prominent  figures  in  his  county.  Mr.  Hob- 
good intermarried  with  Miss  Elizabeth  House,  of  Brunswick 
County,  Virginia,  in  the  year  1830.  By  her  he  had  twelve  chil- 
dren— six  sons  and  six  daughters — the  subject  of  this  sketch  being 
the  eighth  child  of  this  fine  large  family.  Mrs.  Hobgood  was  a 
woman  of  rare  character,  her  virtues  being  yet  held  in  high  es- 
teem by  the  older  people  of  her  section,  who  delight  to  speak  her 
praises  even  now. 

Reared  upon  the  farm.  Professor  Hobgood  was  trained  to  the 
manly  hardihood  which  can  be  won  neither  so  quickly  nor  so  thor- 
oughly in  any  other  occupation  under  the  sun.  Surrounded  by 
the  simple  elements  of  rural  life  and  pursuing  the  healthful 
tasks  of  such  occupation,  the  future  educator  and  philanthropist 


190  NORTH  CAROLINA 

won  for  himself  the  strength  of  body,  breadth  of  mind,  the  moral 
force  and  fibre,  the  catholicity  of  sympathy,  which  make  him  a 
remarkable  man  among  remarkable  men. 

His  home  was  six  miles  distant  from  Oxford,  where  was  sit- 
uated a  celebrated  school  for  boys  at  that  time  presided  over  by 
James  H.  Horner,  Esq.  He  rode  on  horseback  to  and  from  this 
school  each  day  for  a  period  of  three  years,  thus  traveling  more 
than  six  thousand  miles  in  preparing  himself  to  enter  college. 

Much  of  his  earlier  reading  and  study  was  done  by  the  fireside 
of  a  farmhouse,  pine-knots  being  often  used  to  give  off  both  heat 
for  the  comfort  of  the  body  and  for  the  enlightenment  of  the  eye, 
while  the  young  student  was  putting  down  those  strong  and  deep 
foundations  of  learning  upon  which  the  work  of  his  mature  man- 
hood now  so  securely  rests.  Those  who  have  come  upon  the  scene 
of  active  life  in  these  later  times  know  very  little  of  the  disad- 
vantages whereunder  the  youth  of  the  time  of  our  Civil  War 
labored  in  their  efforts  to  secure  the  elements  of  culture ;  and  pity 
it  is  that  they  also  know  too  little  of  the  peculiar  strength  and  fine- 
ness of  those  fibres  of  character  that  are  won  in  the  dire  battles 
with  adverse  conditions. 

The  preparatory  education  of  the  subject  of  this  sketch  was 
rudely  interrupted  near  the  close  of  the  Civil  War  by  his  enroll- 
ment in  a  corps  of  Junior  Reserves  of  the  Confederate  States. 
He  served  as  a  young  soldier  for  the  term  of  six  months,  a  part 
of  that  time  as  a  private  in  the  ranks ;  but  afterwards  as  a  clerk  to 
the  brigadier  commanding  his  corps.  At  the  close  of  the  war  he 
returned  to  his  home  and  promptly  resumed  his  studies  in  prep- 
aration for  college,  having  at  that  time  among  his  classmates 
President  Winston,  of  the  North  Carolina  College  of  Agriculture 
and  Mechanic  Arts,  and  Associate-Justice  Piatt  D.  Walker,  of 
the  Supreme  Court  of  North  Carolina. 

As  soon  as  practicable,  in  January,  1866,  he  entered  Wake 
Forest  College ;  and,  applying  himself  with  great  earnestness  and 
assiduity,  he  was  graduated  in  1868  at  the  head  of  his  class. 

At  about  the  age  of  sixteen  years  he  conceived  the  purpose,  from 
which  he  never  swerved  nor  faltered  for  a  moment,  of  following 


FRANKLIN  P.  HOBGOOD  191 

the  profession  of  a  teacher,  and  his  education  was  pursued  with 
that  end  distinctly  in  view.  He  felt  himself  called  to  the  work 
of  teacher,  and  he  has  often  been  heard  to  say  that  he  believed  a 
call  to  that  high  vocation  was  as  necessary  to  the  teacher  as  is 
the  divine  call  to  him  who  is  to  be  a  minister  at  the  altar  of 
religion. 

Shortly  after  being  graduated  he  accepted  a  professorship  in 
a  school  for  girls  conducted  in  the  present  Orphan  Asylum  build- 
ings in  the  town  of  Oxford,  and  known  at  that  time  as  St.  John's 
College.  In  January,  1869,  he  was  employed  as  principal  of  a 
boys'  school  in  the  town  of  Reidsville,  North  Carolina,  where  for 
two  years  he  taught  with  most  remarkable  energy  and  success,  in 
that  short  time  preparing  for  college  some  of  the  most  prominent 
men  of  the  Piedmont  region  of  his  native  State. 

At  the  end  of  his  two  years  of  successful  teaching  at  Reidsville 
the  young  educator  became  president  of  the  Raleigh  Female  Sem- 
inary; and  for  ten  years  he  maintained  that  institution  in  a  high 
state  of  efficiency  and  success,  evincing,  to  the  satisfaction  of  an 
exacting  public,  that  he  was  not  alone  a  very  fine  teacher,  but  that 
he  was  also  a  man  of  exceptionally  good  executive  ability  as  well. 
This  seat  of  education  was  originally  the  residence  of  Colonel 
William  Polk,  at  the  head  of  Blount  Street  and  beyond  North 
Street.  The  buildings  have  since  been  demolished  and  removed. 
This  Raleigh  school  for  women  was  the  first  school  of  its  kind 
that  was  established  for  Baptist  girls  after  the  war  between  the 
States;  and  its  young  president,  then  twenty- four  years  old,  was 
among  the  first  persons  in  the  whole  South  to  advance  the  standard 
of  education  for  women  and  secure  its  essential  re-adaptation  to 
the  changed  conditions  brought  about  by  the  tempests  of  war. 

Professor  Hobgood's  conspicuous  success  in  this  Raleigh  in- 
stitution for  women  soon  marked  him  out  as  a  man  qualified  for 
a  wider  field  and  more  permanent  work  than  was  possible  in  the 
institution  wherewith  he  was  then  connected;  and  so,  in  1880, 
he  was  called  to  the  presidency  of  the  Oxford  Seminary,  where 
for  twenty-five  years  he  has  wrought  manfully,  tirelessly,  and 
wisely,  as  well  as  successfully,  for  the  better  education  of  women 


192  NORTH  CAROLINA 

in  the  South ;  and  where,  in  the  zenith  of  his  powers  and  useful- 
ness, he  is  laboring  at  this  moment  to  impress  the  future  of  hia 
country  and  of  the  world  by  furnishing  that  future  with  the 
blessings  of  cultivated  motherhood. 

The  Oxford  Seminary  wherewith  Professor  Hobgood  is  now 
associated,  and  with  whose  great  influence  upon  the  culture  of  the 
South  his  name  will  continue  to  be  associated  in  the  grateful 
memories  of  generations  to  come,  is  a  Baptist  school ;  and  it  was 
established  in  the  year  1850  by  the  late  Samuel  Wait,  D.D.,  whose 
memory  in  North  Carolina  is  blessed  and  green,  and  will  con- 
tinue to  be  green  and  blessed  while  the  people  of  the  old  Common- 
wealth have  the  power  to  gratefully  recall  those  who  have  been 
their  benefactors. 

The  late  John  Haynes  Mills  succeeded  Dr.  Wait  in  the  presi- 
dency of  the  Oxford  Seminary ;  and  he,  in  turn,  was  succeeded  by 
the  subject  of  this  sketcli.  Thus  the  names  of  Wait,  Mills,  and 
Hobgood  are  linked  together  in  the  making  of  an  institution  for 
the  education  of  women  that  has  few  equals  anywhere  and  has 
no  superiors  in  the  section  of  the  South  wherein  it  stands  and  for 
whose  women  it  teaches  and  achieves. 

In  January,  1904,  the  buildings  of  this  noble  school  were  wholly 
destroyed  by  fire.  Nothing  else  in  the  history  of  Professor  Hob- 
good's  connection  with  this  school  shows  quite  so  plainly  the 
quality  of  metal  there  is  in  this  man  as  his  determined  action 
after  the  destruction  of  his  school  plant  by  fire.  An  ordinary  man 
would  have  given  up  in  despair  under  the  pressure  of  his  large 
losses,  or  else  would  have  sought  a  position  in  some  other  institu- 
tion. But  he  did  not  so.  He  devised  plans  for  new  and  larger 
buildings,  and  set  about  the  embodiment  of  his  admirable  plans 
with  so  much  of  intelligent  vigor  that  the  seminary  began  its  next 
session  on  time  in  the  completed  new  buildings,  and  has  before 
it  now  a  future  fuller  of  promise  than  any  other  that  ever  beck- 
oned it  onward  in  time  past  and  gone. 

For  nearly,  or  quite,  thirty-five  years  Professor  Hobgood  has 
given  himself  to  the  higher  education  of  women  with  an  en- 
thusiasm of  devotion  that  is  exceeded  by  nothing  else  but  the  rare 


FRANKLIN  P.  HOBGOOD  193 

wisdom  with  which  he  has  wrought  in  his  chosen  calling.  And 
already  he  begins  to  reap  his  reward  in  the  assured  consciousness 
that  thousands  of  his  former  pupils  are  now  matrons  presiding 
in  cultured  homes  and  radiating  the  fragrance  of  matronly  Chris- 
tian culture  in  their  homes  and  in  their  social  spheres  from 
womanhood  that  got  its  bent  and  direction  from  his  teachings  and 
example. 

Professor  Hobgood's  devotion  to  his  chosen  vocation  has  won 
for  him  a  very  high  place  among  those  who  labor  for  the  higher 
education  of  women.  That  his  reputation  has  gone  into  other 
States  is  evidenced  by  the  fact  that  a  few  years  ago  he  was  elected 
president  of  the  Richmond  Female  Institute — now  the  Woman's 
College — of  Richmond,  Virginia.  This  position  he  promptly  de- 
clined, preferring  to  remain  at  Oxford  and  build  up  a  great  school 
which  should  embody  his  own  enlightened  views  as  to  what  a 
modern  school  for  women  should  be. 

Not  alone  in  his  own  particular  field  of  effort  have  Professor 
Hobgood's  abilities  been  recognized,  but  other  spheres  of  useful- 
ness and  influence  have  been  freely  opened  to  him.  For  a  number 
of  years  he  has  been  chairman  of  the  Board  of  Education  of  Gran- 
ville County.  He  has  been  president  of  the  Teachers'  Assembly 
of  North  Carolina.  For  a  quarter  of  a  century  he  has  been  a 
member  of  the  board  of  trustees  of  Wake  Forest  College.  For 
twelve  years  he  has  been  a  member  of  the  board  of  trustees  of 
the  Baptist  Orphanage  at  Thomasville,  North  Carolina.  In  all 
these  places  of  trust  and  responsibility  he  has  shown  himself  to  be 
a  man  of  rare  wisdom,  prudence  and  ability.  It  is  certain  that 
he  takes  rank  as  an  educator  and  philanthropist  along  with  the 
first  men  of  this  Southern  section. 

On  the  6th  of  October,  1868,  before  he  had  well  entered  upon 
the  activities  of  life,  he  intermarried  with  Miss  Mary  A.  Royall, 
a  daughter  of  Reverend  William  Royall,  D.D.,  LL.D.,  late  pro- 
fessor of  English  in  Wake  Forest  College.  His  marriage  was 
very  fortunate,  Mrs.  Hobgood  being  a  woman  of  rare  endowments 
of  both  heart  and  mind  and  in  all  respects  a  model  wife  and 
mother.    They  have  reared  a  family  of  six  children,  five  of  whom 


194  NORTH  CAROLINA 

are  living;  one,  a  young  man  of  highest  promise,  died  at  the  age 
of  twenty-one  years.  One  son,  Colonel  F.  P.  Hobgood,  of  Greens- 
boro, has  already  attained  distinction  in  the  profession  of  the 
law  and  has  been  prominently  identified  with  the  military  of  his 
native  State.  One  of  Professor  Hobgood's  daughters  is  the 
wife  of  F.  W.  Hancock,  Esq.,  for  many  years  the  secretary  and 
treasurer  of  the  State  Board  of  Pharmacy  of  North  Carolina. 
Another  daughter  is  the  wife  of  General  B.  S.  Royster,  adjutant- 
general  of  North  Carolina  under  both  Governors  Russell  and 
Aycock  and  also  a  distinguished  attorney-at-law  at  Oxford.  One 
son  is  now  a  medical  student  in  the  State  University.  The  young- 
est daughter,  an  accomplished  young  woman,  is  still  with  her 
parents  to  brighten  their  lives. 

Professor  Hobgood  does  not  live  unto  himself  alone.  He  is  a 
man  of  catholic  sympathies  and  throws  the  great  weight  of  his 
personal  influence  into  every  movement  that  tends  to  enlarge  men 
and  bring  about  the  conditions  out  of  which  comes  the  increase 
of  industrial,  social  and  civic  righteousness. 

He  is  a  member  of  the  Independent  Order  of  Odd  Follows, 
of  the  Masonic  fraternity,  and  also  a  Knight  of  Pythias.  In 
politics  he  is  an  earnest  and  conscientious  Democrat,  believing 
fully  that  all  the  people  are  better  than  any  of  the  people.  In 
religious  belief  and  practice  he  is  a  Baptist,  though  narrowness 
of  religious  belief  is  as  foreign  to  his  nature  and  interests  as  are 
the  personal  movements  that  lead  to  dishonor  in  any  walk  of  life. 
He  has  always  been  active  in  the  work  of  his  own  particular 
Church  and  in  the  general  work  of  his  denomination.  He  was 
for  a  number  of  years  the  honored  moderator  of  the  Flat  River 
Baptist  Association. 

He  was  led  to  adopt  the  profession  of  teaching  by  his  own 
personal  judgment  and  preference;  but  he  gratefully  ascribes  his 
first  strong  impulse  to  strive  for  the  distinctions  and  real  prizes 
of  life  to  a  noble  woman  who  was  at  one  time  a  teacher  in  his 
father's  family,  and  whose  beautiful  life  inspired  him  with  an  am- 
bition to  have  somewhat  to  do  in  leading  out  the  young  minds  of 
the  world  to  the  conquest  of  the  "True,  the  Beautiful  and  the 


FRANKLIN  P.  HOBGOOD  i95 

Good."  It  was  this  early  ambition  that  led  him  to  the  college  at 
the  first,  and  then  onward  to  all  that  he  has  done  and  is  doing  for 
the  elevation  of  the  world  and  to  the  highest  things. 

He  ascribes  his  success  in  life  mainly  to  two  influences,  viz. : 
the  quiet  and  simplicity  of  his  home  life  on  the  farm,  permeated 
and  ennobled  by  the  godly  lives  and  examples  of  his  father  and 
mother,  and  to  the  splendid  influence  of  his  noble  wife.  Asked 
once  to  give  a  motto  that  might  surely  guide  the  young  to  large 
usefulness  in  the  conduct  of  the  movements  of  life,  he  said :  "A 
spirit  of  helpfulness  to  others  and  a  supreme  devotion  to  personal 
duty  will  win  anything  here  that  is  worth  the  winning" — and  this 
seems  to  have  been  the  keynote  of  his  own  useful  and  well-rounded 
life. 

The  editor  of  this  sketch  has  known  Professor  Hobgood  in- 
timately for  twenty  years,  and  it  is  a  pleasure  to  him  to  say  a 
word  as  to  his  friend. 

His  nature  is  large.  He  has  a  large  frame.  He  has  a  large 
mind.  He  has  a  large  heart.  His  culture  and  information  are 
extensive,  but  he  uses  them  with  entire  modesty,  the  airs  of  the 
pedant  being  utterly  distastful  to  him.  He  is  simple  in  his  tastes 
and  unpretentious  in  his  intercourse  with  men.  He  is  friendly 
and  companionable,  being  genial  as  few  men  are  genial.  He  was 
fitted  by  nature,  and  he  has  fitted  himself  "by  study  and  personal 
service,  to  occupy  a  large  place  among  the  hosts  of  good  men  and 
women  who  are  leading  the  world  by  right  paths  up  from  the 
lower  to  the  higher  things  which  lure  them  to  come  and  take  pos- 
session of  their  own. 

"Baylus  Cade. 


JAMES    HOGUN 

fORTH  CAROLINA  in  the  Revolution  furnished 
ten  regiments  to  the  regular  service — the  Con- 
tinental Line.  Five  of  the  colonels  of  these 
became  general  officers,  the  only  generals 
North  Carolina  had  in  the  regular  service. 
They  were  General  Robert  Howe,  who  rose  to 
be  major-general — our  sole  major-general — and  four  brigadiers. 
General  James  Moore,  who  died  early  in  the  war ;  General  Francis 
Nash,  mortally  wounded  at  Germantown  and  buried  near  the  field 
of  battle — a  brother  of  Governor  Abner  Nash;  General  Jethro 
Sumner;  and  General  James  Hogun. 

The  lives  and  careers  of  the  first  three  named  are  well  known. 
For  some  reason  the  data  as  to  the  two  last  have  been  neglected. 
The  Honorable  Kemp  P.  Battle,  by  diligent  search  in  many 
quarters,  was  able  to  restore  to  us  much  information  as  to  General 
Jethro  Sumner,  of  Warren  County,  and,  indeed,  to  rehabilitate 
his  memory.  As  to  General  James  Hogun,  of  Halifax  County, 
the  task  was  more  difficult.  Little  has  been  known  beyond  the 
fact  that  he  was  probably  from  Halifax  County,  and  that  he  was 
a  brigadier-general.  The  late  Colonel  William  L.  Saunders  re- 
quested the  writer  to  investigate  and  preserve  to  posterity  what- 
ever could  now  be  rediscovered  as  to  this  brave  officer. 

It  may  be  noted  that  North  Carolina  has  not  named  a  county 
or  township  or  village  in  honor  of  either  of  the  four  generals — 


JAMES  HOGUN  i97 


Howe,  Mcx)re,  Sumner,  or  Hogun:  Moore  County  was  named 
in  honor  of  Judge  Alfred  Moore,  of  the  United  States  Supreme 
Court.  General  Nash  was  the  only  one  of  the  five  thus  honored, 
the  county  of  Nash  having  been  formed  in  1777,  the  year  of 
General  Nash's  death  at  Germantown. 

General  James  Hogun  was  born  in  Ireland,  but  the  year  and 
place  of  his  birth  are  unknown.  The  name  is  spelled  Hogiin, 
though  usually  in  Ireland,  where  the  name  is  not  uncommon,  it 
is  written  Hogan — with  an  a.  He  removed  to  Halifax  County 
in  this  State,  and  to  the  Scotland  Neck  section  of  it.  He  mar- 
ried, October  3,  1751,  Miss  Ruth  Norfleet  of  the  well-known 
family  of  that  name.  In  the  Provincial  Congress  which  met  at 
Halifax  April  4,  1776,  and  which  framed  our  first  State  Consti- 
tution, James  Hogun  was  one  of  the  delegates  for  Halifax  County. 
He  was  appointed  paymaster  in  the  Third  Regiment  (Sumner's), 
but  November  26,  1776,  he  was  elected  colonel  of  the  Seventh 
North  Carolina  Regiment,  and  on  the  6th  of  December  an  elec- 
tion was  ordered  to  fill  the  vacancy  in  the  North  Carolina  Congress 
caused  by  his  resignation  as  a  member  of  that  body. 

Colonel  Hogun  marched  North  with  the  Seventh,  and  Colonel 
Armstrong  with  the  Eighth,  and  both  regiments  arrived  in  time 
to  take  part  in  the  battles  of  Brandywine  and  Germantown.  That 
winter  nine  North  Carolina  regiments  were  in  winter  quarters 
at  Valley  Forge,  Colonel  Abram  Sheppard's  regiment,  the  Tenth, 
spent  the  winter  in  the  smallpox  camp  at  Georgetown  on  the 
Potomac.  Quoting  from  the  Prefatory  Notes  of  Volume  13  of 
the  State  Records,  it  appears  that  in  March  the  number  of  our 
privates  at  Valley  Forge  was  900;  50  had  died  since  January  in 
camp :  200  were  then  sick  in  camp,  and  an  equal  number  were 
in  hospitals  in  Pennsylvania  and  New  Jersey.  The  officers  of 
the  Sixth  Regiment  had  been  sent  home  to  recruit  more  men, 
and  all  new  recruits  and  absentees  were  to  be  brought  to  camp. 
In  May  there  were  in  camp,  rank  and  file,  1450.  On  May  29th 
the  Continental  Congress  resolved  that  the  regiments  in  camp 
should  be  consolidated  into  new  ones ;  and  a  call  was  made  on 
North  Carolina  to  raise  four  more  battalions  of  Continentals. 


198  NORTH  CAROLINA 

Colonel  Hogun  and  the  supernumerary  officers  were  directed  to 
return  to  North  Carolina  for  service  in  the  new  battalions.  The 
Legislature  provided  that  2648  men  should  be  detached  from  the 
militia  to  serve  as  Continentals  for  nine  months,  a  certain  quota 
being  apportioned  to  each  county,  of  which  each  militia  company 
was  to  furnish  its  proper  share.  These  drafted  militia-men  thus 
became  Continentals,  and  after  their  nine  months'  actual  service 
was  completed  they  were  to  be  exempt  for  a  period  of  three 
years.  The  duty  of  organizing  these  troops  fell  on  Colonel  Ho- 
gun, who  was  elected  to  command  the  first  battalion  that  was 
raised.  In  July,  1778,  Colonel  Hogun,  having  organized  his  regi- 
ment at  Halifax,  marched  600  strong  to  the  northward.  In 
August  he  reached  Philadelphia  and  hastened  on  to  Washington's 
headquarters  at  White  Plains.  In  November  Colonel  Hogun 
with  his  regiment  was  engaged  in  throwing  up  fortifications  at 
West  Point,  which  was  the  beginning  of  fortifying  that  post  which 
became  so  important  and  which  has  since  been  so  famous  in  our 
history.  At  that  time  the  four  consolidated  North  Carolina  regi- 
ments constituted  a  brigade  under  the  command  of  Colonel  Clark, 
numbering  1200,  and  were  with  Washington  at  Fredericksburg, 
thirty  miles  further  east  on  the  Connecticut  line. 

On  January  9,  1779,  Congress  appointed  Colonel  Sumner  and 
Colonel  Hogun  to  be  generals  to  fill  the  vacancies  caused  by  the 
death  of  General  Nash  and  by  the  promotion  of  General  Howe. 
Colonel  Hogun  was  senior  in  rank  to  Colonel  Clark,  who,  entering 
the  service  as  major  on  the  ist  of  September,  1775,  in  the  follow- 
ing April  became  lieutenant-colonel,  and  in  February,  1777,  be- 
came colonel  on  the  promotion  of  Nash  as  brigadier-general. 
Hogun  was  commissioned  colonel  of  the  Seventh  Regiment  in 
November,  1776,  and  although  Clark  was  in  command  of  the 
brigade,  Hogun,  who  was  on  other  service,  was  his  senior.  The 
Legislature  of  the  State  recommended  Colonel  Clark's  promo- 
tion, and  Colonel  Clark  was  also  warmly  advocated  by  his  brother- 
in-law,  William  Hooper,  at  that  time  a  member  of  the  Continental 
Congress.  The  officers  of  the  brigade,  however,  generally  sus- 
tained Hogun's  right  to  promotion,  he  being  the  senior  in  com- 


JAMES  HOGUN  199 


mission,  and  General  Washington  stated  that  while  not  under- 
valuing Colonel  Clark's  services,  Colonel  Hogun  by  his  distin- 
guished gallantry  at  Germantown  had  earned  the  promotion,  and 
he  was  therefore  elected  and  commissioned  a  brigadier-general 
on  January  9,  1779,  at  the  same  time  as  General  Sumner.  General 
Hogun  continued  to  serve  with  the  army  at  the  North  until  1780. 
In  the  early  part  of  1779  General  Sumner  with  his  brigade  was 
ordered  South  to  aid  in  the  defence  of  Georgia  and  South  Caro- 
lina. He  fought  at  Stono  Ferry  on  June  20,  1779,  and  later  Gen- 
eral Hogun  was  ordered  with  his  brigade  also  to  reinforce  General 
Lincoln  in  South  Carolina. 

At  the  head  of  his  brigade  he  passed  through  Halifax  and 
Wilmington,  in  February,  1780,  and  took  part  in  the  memorable 
defence  of  Charleston.  When  General  Lincoln  surrendered  that 
city  on  the  12th  of  May,  1780,  though  he  surrendered  five  thou- 
sand men,  only  one  thousand  eight  hundred  of  them  were  regular 
troops,  and  the  large  part  of  these  were  General  Hogun's  North 
Carolina  brigade.  General  Sumner,  our  other  brigadier,  who  had 
commanded  that  part  of  the  North  Carolina  line  which  was  at 
Charleston  before  General  Hogun's  arrival,  was  at  home  on  sick 
furlough,  as  were  many  officers  who  had  lost  employment  by  the 
consolidation  of  the  depleted  companies  and  regiments.  With 
that  exception.  North  Carolina's  entire  force  of  regulars  was  lost 
to  her  at  this  critical  time.  The  surrendered  militia  was  paroled, 
but  the  regular  troops,  headed  by  General  Hogun,  were  conveyed 
to  Haddrell's  Point  in  the  rear  of  Sullivan's  Island,  near  Charles- 
ton. There  they  underwent  the  greatest  privations  of  all  kinds. 
They  were  nearly  starved,  but  even  a  petition  to  fish,  in  order  to 
add  to  their  supply  of  food,  was  refused  by  the  British.  These 
troops  were  also  threatened  with  deportation  to  the  West  Indies. 
General  Hogun  himself  was  ofifered  leave  to  return  on  parole. 
Tempting  as  was  the  offer,  he  felt  that  his  departure  would  be 
unjust  to  his  men,  whose  privations  he  had  promised  to  share. 
He  also  knew  that  his  absence  would  aid  the  eflforts  of  the  British, 
who  were  seeking  recruits  among  these  half-starved  prisoners. 
He  fell  a  victim  to  his  sense  of  duty,  and  died  at  Haddrell's  Point 


200  NORTH  CAROLINA 

January  4,  1781,  where  he  fills  the  unmarked  grave  of  a  hero. 
History  affords  no  more  striking  incident  of  devotion  to  duty, 
and  North  Carolina  should  erect  a  tablet  to  his  memory  and  that 
of  those  who  perished  there  with  him.  Of  the  one  thousand 
eight  hundred  regulars  who  went  into  captivity  on  Sullivan's  Island 
with  him,  only  seven  hundred  survived  when  they  were  paroled. 

We  do  not  know  General  Hogun's  age,  but  as  he  had  married 
in  1 75 1  he  was  probably  beyond  middle  life.  In  this  short  recital 
is  found  all  that  careful  research  has  so  far  disclosed  of  a  life 
whose  outline  proves  it  worthy  of  fuller  commemoration.  Could 
his  last  resting  place  be  found,  the  tablet  might  well  bear  the 
Spartan's  inscription :  "Siste  viator,  heroa  calcas."  "Pause, 
stranger.     It  is  on  a  hero's  dust  you  tread." 

General  Hogun  left  only  one  child,  Lemuel  Hogun,  who  mar- 
ried Mary  Smith,  of  Halifax  County.  To  Lemuel  Hogun,  March 
14,  1786,  North  Carolina  issued  a  grant  for  twelve  thousand 
acres  of  land  in  Davidson  County,  Tennessee,  near  Nashville,  as 
''the  heir  of  Brigadier-General  Hogun."  In  October,  1792,  the 
United  States  also  paid  him  $5,250,  being  the  seven  years'  half- 
pay  voted  by  Congress  to  the  heirs  of  brigadier-generals  who  had 
died  in  service.  In  18 14  Lemuel  Hogun  died,  and  is  probably 
buried  at  the  family  burial-ground  in  Halifax  County.  General 
Hogun  resided  in  Halifax  County,  North  Carolina,  about  one 
mile  from  the  present  village  of  Hobgood.  In  1818  the  widow  of 
Lemuel  Hogun  and  her  children  moved  to  Tuscumbia,  Alabama. 
Numerous  descendants  are  to  be  found  in  that  State  and  in 
Tennessee  and  Mississippi.  In  the  late  war  General  Hogun's 
papers,  which  might  have  furnished  materials  for  history,  were 
seized  by  the  Federal  troops  and  presuraablv  destroyed,  though 
it  is  barely  possible  they  may  be  yet  preserved  in  some  Northern 
historical  collection.  It  is  known  that  among  these  papers  there 
was  at  least  one  letter  from  Washington  to  General  Hogun. 

These  five  heroes — Howe,  Moore,  Nash,  Sumner  and  Hogun — 
were,  as  has  been  said,  the  only  generals  from  this  State  in  the 
regular  service.  After  the  war  Colonel  Clark  became  a  general 
in  the  United  States  Army. 


JAMES   HOGUN  201 


We  had  several  generals  who  commanded  militia  ordered  out 
on  three  months'  tour  or  on  special  service  at  sundry  times,  such 
as  General  Griffith  Rutherford  and  General  William  Lee  David- 
son, for  whom  counties  have  been  named :  Generals  Butler  and 
Eaton  and  Lillington  and  Major-General  Ashe  and  Major-Gen- 
eral  Caswell.  General  Davidson  had  been  a  lieutenant-colonel 
in  the  Continental  Line,  but  was  a  brigadier-general  of  militia 
when  killed  at  Cowan's  Ford.  There  were  other  distinguished 
officers,  as  Colonel  William  R.  Davie,  Major  Joseph  Graham 
(who,  as  brigadier-general,  commanded  the  brigade  sent  to  Jack- 
son's aid  against  the  Creeks  in  1812),  and  several  others  who 
acquired  the  rank  of  general  after  the  Revolution. 

The  militia  figured  more  prominently  in  that  day  than  since. 
The  important  victories  of  Moore's  Creek,  King's  Mountain  and 
Ramsour's  Mills  were  won  solely  by  militia,  and  Cowpens  and 
other  fields  by  their  aid.  Rutherford  and  Gregory  commanded 
militia  brigades  at  Camden,  as  Butler  and  Eaton  did  at  Guilford 
Court  House  and  as  General  John  Ashe  did  at  Briar  Creek.  It 
may  be  of  interest  to  name  here  the  colonels  of  the  ten  North  Caro- 
lina regiments  of  the  Continental  Line :  First  Regiment,  James 
Moore.  On  his  promotion  to  brigadier-general,  Francis  Nash. 
After  his  promotion,  Thomas  Clark.  Alfred  Moore,  afterwards 
judge  of  the  United  States  Supreme  Court,  was  one  of  the  cap- 
tains. Second  Regiment,  Robert  Howe.  After  his  promotion 
to  major-general,  Alexander  Martin.  On  his  resignation, 
John  Patten  became  colonel.  In  this  regiment  Hardy  Murfree, 
from  whom  Murfreesboro  in  Tennessee  is  named,  rose  from  cap- 
tain to  lieutenant-colonel;  and  Benjamin  Williams,  afterwards 
governor,  was  one  of  the  captains.  David  Vance,  grandfather  of 
Governor  Vance,  was  a  lieutenant.  Third  Regiment,  Jethro  Sum- 
ner. After  his  promotion  it  was  consolidated  with  the  First 
Regiment.  In  this  regiment  Hal  Dixon  was  a  lieutenant-colonel 
and  Pinketham  Eaton  was' major,  both  distinguished  soldiers; 
and  William  Blount,  afterwards  United  States  Senator,  was  pay- 
master. Fourth  Regiment,  Thomas  Polk.  General  William  Lee 
Davidson,  killed  at  Cowan's  Ford,  was  lieutenant-colonel  of  this 


202  NORTH  CAROLINA 

regiment,  and  William  Williams  was  at  Valley  Forge  ad- 
jutant. Fifth  Regiment,  Edward  Buncombe,  who  died  of  wounds 
received  at  Germantown,  and  for  whom  Buncombe  County  is 
named.  Sixth  Regiment,  Alexander  Lillington  and  afterwards 
Gideon  Lamb.  John  Baptista  Ashe,  of  Halifax,  who  was  elected 
governor  in  1802,  but  died  before  qualifying,  was  lieutenant- 
colonel  of  this  regiment.  Seventh  Regiment,  James  Hogun. 
After  his  promotion  Robert  Mebane.  In  this  regiment  Nathaniel 
Macon,  afterwards  Speaker  of  Congress  and  United  States  Sena- 
tor, and  James  Turner,  afterwards  governor,  served  together  as 
privates  in  the  same  company.  Eighth  Regiment,  James  Arm- 
strong. Ninth  Regiment,  John  Pugh  Williams.  Of  this  Regi- 
ment WiUiam  Polk  was  major.  Tenth  Regiment,  Abram 
Sheppard.  The  State  had  in  the  Continental  Line  a  battery 
of  cavalry,  led  respectively  by  Samuel  Ashe,  Martin  Phifer  and 
Cosmo  de  Medici. 

These  are  the  few  details  which,  after  laborious  research,  have 
been  exhumed  as  to  General  Hogun,  his  origin,  his  services,  and 
his  descendants.  He  was  a  brave,  faithful  and  competent  officer, 
and  his  memory  merits  more  consideration  than  has  been  given  it. 

Walter  Clark. 


;Y 


Eng  iyES  Xi//i^ 


'^^.<r^M^09'7U^ 


iJhaS  Zr.  fS/i  Mtpps-^  Publishe. 


GEORGE   HOWARD 

|EORGE  HOWARD,  born  in  Tarboro,  Edge- 
combe County,  North  Carolina,  September  22, 
1829,  was  the  son  of  George  Howard,  a  native 
of  Baltimore,  Maryland,  and  of  his  wife,  Alice 
Clark  Thurston,  a  native  of  Caroline  County, 
Virginia.  George  Howard,  Sr.,  the  first  mem- 
ber of  the  family  to  settle  in  North  Carolina,  came  when  a  young 
man  to  the  town  of  Halifax  and  on  March  25,  1824,  established 
a  weekly  newspaper  which  he  called  the  Free  Press.  He  re- 
moved to  the  town  of  Tarboro  August  22,  1826,  where  he  con- 
tinued the  paper  under  the  same  name  until  August,  1833,  when 
it  was  changed  to  the  Tarboro  Free  Press.  In  January,  1852,  the 
name  was  again  changed  to  The  Southerner,  under  which  it  has 
continued  to  the  present  time.  The  Free  Press  and  its  successors 
were  at  all  times  strong,  fearless,  and  able  advocates  of  the  princi- 
ples and  policies  of  the  Democratic  Party,  enjoying  the  confidence 
and  receiving  the  support  of  the  people  of  Edgecombe  and  ad- 
joining counties.  Mr.  Howard  spent  a  long  life  of  honorable 
usefulness  in  the  town  of  Tarboro,  rearing  a  large  family,  all  of 
whom  married  and  spent  their  lives  there.  They  and  their  de- 
scendants are  numbered  among  the  most  honorable  and  highly 
respected  citizens  of  the  town.  Mr.  Howard  died  March  25, 
1863.  He  was  survived  by  his  wife,  a  woman  of  strong  mind, 
clear  judgment,  and  devotion  to  duty,  who  died  several  years  later. 


204  NORTH  CAROLINA 

The  subject  of  this  sketch  received  his  early  education  in  the 
schools  of  Tarboro,  noted  for  their  thoroughness  and  excellence. 
When  but  fourteen  years  of  age  he  became  the  editor  of  his 
father's  paper.  The  editorials  written  by  him  are  marked  by 
clearness  of  style,  vigor  of  expression,  and  soundness  of  judg- 
ment. There  was  probably  no  county  in  the  State  in  which  there 
was  a  higher  degree  of  intelligence  than  Edgecombe,  or  in  which 
the  people  were  more  strongly  democratic  in  all  respects.  The 
Southerner  was  both  a  leader  and  exponent  of  their  spirit  and 
thought. 

Six  years  later  Mr.  Howard  entered  upon  the  study  of  the  law 
at  the  State  University,  under  Honorable  Wm.  H.  Battle  and 
Honorable  Samuel  F.  Phillips,  and  was  admitted  to  the  bar  at 
the  Spring  Term,  1850,  of  the  Supreme  Court.  He  was  shortly 
thereafter  elected  solicitor  of  the  Court  of  Pleas  and  Quarter 
Sessions  of  Greene  County.  During  the  year  1854  he  moved 
to  the  rapidly  growing  town  of  Wilson,  then  in  the  county  of 
Edgecombe,  entering  at  once  upon  a  large  and  lucrative  practice 
in  Edgecombe  and  the  surrounding  counties.  At  that  time  the 
Bar  of  which  he  soon  became  an  active  m.ember  was  composed  of 
such  men  as  William  Norfleet,  R.  R.  Bridgers,  John  L.  Bridgers 
and  William  H.  Johnston,  of  Edgecombe;  William  T.  Dortch, 
George  V.  Strong,  W.  T.  Faircloth,  of  Wayne;  Edward  Conig- 
land,  of  Halifax;  B.  F.  Moore,  of  Wake;  Joseph  J.  Davis, 
of  Franklin;  William  B.  Rodman,  of  Beaufort;  Asa  Biggs,  of 
Martin,  all  of  whom  attended  the  courts  of  the  adjoining  counties. 
To  have  taken  a  prominent  position  among  such  men  early  in 
his  professional  career  gives  an  assurance  of  a  high  order  of 
mind,  good  equipment  and  strong  character. 

At  the  session  of  the  General  Assembly  of  1854,  by  the  action 
of  his  friends  and  without  his  knowledge,  he  was  elected  reading 
clerk  to  the  House  of  Commons.  He  discharged  the  duties  of  the 
position  so  satisfactorily  that  he  was  unanimously  reelected  at 
the  next  session.  At  the  session  of  1854-5  by  his  personal  in- 
fluence and  popularity  he  was  largely  instrumental  in  securing 
the  passage,  against  most  active  opposition,  of  the  bill  establishing 


GEORGE  HOWARD  205 

the  county  of  Wilson.  By  this  time,  although  Mr.  Howard  was 
one  of  the  youngest  men  in  his  party,  he  had  become,  by  reason 
of  his  sound  judgment,  large  and  accurate  knowledge  of  political 
conditions,  and  acquaintance  with  leading  men,  one  of  the  trusted 
leaders  of  the  Democratic  Party  in  North  Carolina.  Returning 
to  his  home  after  the  adjournment  of  the  General  Assembly,  he 
at  once  became  the  most  influential  citizen  of  the  new  county,  en- 
joying the  unlimited  affection  and  confidence  of  the  people.  He 
rendered  most  valuable  service  by  his  counsel  and  assistance  in 
the  work  of  organizing  and  launching  the  new  county  upon  its 
successful  career. 

Upon  the  election  of  Honorable  M.  E.  Manly  to  the  Supreme 
Court,  November,  1859,  Mr.  Howard  was  appointed  judge  of  the 
Superior  Court  of  Law  and  Equity  by  Governor  Ellis  and  his 
Council;  at  the  next  session  of  the  General  Assembly  he  was 
elected  to  the  position  for  life.  As  indicating  the  high  estima- 
tion in  which  judicial  office  was  regarded  by  the  members  of  the 
Bar,  it  is  interesting  to  note  that,  although  then  of  but  small 
financial  means,  Mr.  Howard  surrendered  a  rapidly  growing 
practice,  yielding  an  annual  income  of  more  than  $5000,  to  accept 
the  judgeship  at  a  salary  of  $1950.  His  action  was  not,  in  that 
respect,  exceptional.  At  the  same  time  Judge  Osborne  and  Judge 
Heath  were  appointed  to  the  bench.  His  appointment  is  thus 
referred  to  by  John  W.  Moore  in  his  History  of  North  Carolina: 

"Judge  Howard  was  much  younger  than  his  two  colleagues,  but  had, 
for  several  years,  divided  with  Honorable  Wm.  T.  Dortch  the  honors  and 
emoluments  of  the  Goldsboro  district,  then  presenting  the  richest  legal 
harvest  to  be  found  in  North  Carolina.  His  fine  presence,  quickness  of 
apprehension,  and  legal  abilities  gave  him  large  success  upon  the  bench, 
while  his  personal  qualities  brought  troops  of  friends  wherever  he  was 
known." 

His  appointment  to  the  bench  removed  Judge  Howard  from 
participation  in  politics,  but  as  a  patriotic  citizen  he  retained  an 
active  and  intelligent  interest  in  the  important,  and,  as  the  sequel 
showed,   epoch-making  events  transpiring  in  the  country.     He 


2o6  NORTH  CAROLINA 

had  from  his  youth  been  a  close  student  of  the  history  and  the 
institutions  of  the  country.  He  accepted,  both  by  heredity  and 
conviction,  the  poHtical  principles  of  the  sages  of  the  Democratic 
Party.  At  the  time  when  sectional  hatreds  were  being  engendered 
and  radical  men  with  radical  measures  were  coming  into  control 
of  both  sections  of  the  Republic,  he  opposed  what  he  regarded  as 
extreme  in  both,  and  in  i860  supported  and  advocated  the  nomina- 
tion of  Stephen  A.  Douglas  for  president.  When  the  election 
of  Mr.  Lincoln  and  his  call  for  troops  to  coerce  the  seceding 
States  brought  the  dispute  to  the  final  test.  Judge  Howard  acted 
in  accordance  with  the  opinion  expressed  by  him  in  an  editorial 
of  May  22,  1852,  in  which  he  said: 

"We  believe  that  the  General  Government  and  the  State  Government 
both  take  their  authority,  so  far  as  the  people  of  North  Carolina  are  con- 
cerned, from  the  exercised  sovereignty  of  the  people  of  the  State  in  Con- 
vention assembled — that  both  are  creatures  of  the  same.  That  whenever 
in  like  manner  and  form  they  choose  to  exercise  it  again,  the  allegiance 
to  it  will  be  superior,  paramount  to  the  allegiance  to  either  Government. 
The  citizens  acting  under  the  primitive  sovereignity  of  the  State  could 
be  by  no  means  treated  as  traitors,  for  it  is  preposterous  to  suppose  that 
statesmen  intended  that  there  should  be  practically  double  treason." 

That  a  young  man  of  twenty-three  years  should  formulate 
and  express  so  clearly  the  view  held  by  a  large  majority  of  the 
people  of  the  South  upon  this  vexed  question  is  a  striking  il- 
lustration of  the  thoroughness  with  which  the  men  of  the  South 
had  studied  their  political  institutions  and  their  relations  to  the 
State  and  Federal  Governments.  When  Judge  Howard  entered 
the  Convention  of  i86t,  he  was  asked  by  Judge  George  E.  Badger 
whether  he  believed  in  the  legal  right  of  Secession ;  to  this  ques- 
tion he  answered  in  substantially  the  words  quoted  from  the 
above  editorial,  whereupon  that  eminent  jurist  and  statesman  said  : 
"We  agree  substantially." 

Judge  Howard,  together  with  Honorable  William  S.  Battle, 
represented  the  county  of  Edgecombe  (Wilson  then  voting  with 
the  mother  county)  in  the  Convention  which  met  in  the  city  of 
Raleigh,  May  20,  1861.    He  voted  for  and  signed  the  Ordinance 


GEORGE  HOWARD  207 

of  Secession.  In  the  organization  of  the  Convention  he  was  made 
chairman  of  the  committee  on  miUtary  afifairs  and  of  the  com- 
mittee on  the  executive  department.  The  Convention  held  four 
sessions.  It  was  composed  of  the  strongest  men  in  the  State, 
many  of  whom  had  occupied  the  highest  positions  in  the  pubHc 
service.  Many  of  the  younger  men  during  and  since  the  Civil 
War  attained  high  positions,  rendering  eminent  and  patriotic  ser- 
vice in  military  and  civil  life.  Judge  Howard  was  easily  among 
the  leaders  and  supported  all  measures  for  the  defence  of  the 
State  and  for  the  prosecution  of  the  war.  Many  of  these  he  in- 
troduced. 

He  remained  on  the  bench  until  the  surrender  of  the  armies 
of  the  Confederacy  and  the  organization  of  the  provisional  State 
Government;  then,  together  with  all  of  the  other  judges  and 
other  officers  of  State,  he  retired.  During  the  larger  part  of  his 
career  on  the  bench  the  war  prevented  much  civil  litigation,  yet 
he  established  a  reputation  for  learning,  firmness  and  fairness  in 
the  administration  of  justice. 

Judge  Howard  was  also  a  member  of  the  Convention  of  1865. 
In  common  with  all  sincere,  patriotic  men,  who  had  been  loyal 
to  their  State  from  the  commencement  to  the  conclusion  of  the 
war,  he  accepted  with  the  same  sincerity  and  patriotic  purpose  the 
results  of  the  struggle.  In  the  adjustment  of  the  State  to  the  new 
conditions  he  was  ready  to  join  in  such  measures  as  the  changed 
political  status  of  the  people  demanded.  He  refused  to  vote  for 
or  indorse  any  ordinance  or  legislation  inconsistent  with  the 
honor  or  good  faith  of  himself  or  the  people  whom  he  represented. 
His  conduct  at  that  trying  time,  when  the  future  was  clouded  with 
uncertainty,  was  strongly  characteristic  of  and  entirely  consistent 
with  his  mental  and  moral  convictions.  An  ordinance  was  in- 
troduced declaring  that  the  ordinance  of  May  20,  1861,  "is  now 
and  hath  at  all  times  been  null  and  void ;"  a  substitute  was  there- 
upon offered  by  D.  D.  Ferebee,  of  Camden,  declaring  "the  said 
ordinance  to  be  null  and  void,  and  the  same  is  hereby  repealed, 
rescinded,  and  abrogated."  Judge  Howard  with  eighteen  other 
delegates  voted  for  the  substitute,  which  was  defeated.     The  orig- 


2o8  NORTH  CAROLINA 

inal  resolution  being  upon  its  passage,  the  following  voted  in  the 
negative :  George  Howard  of  Edgecombe,  W.  A.  Allen  of  Duplin, 
T.  J.  Faison  of  Sampson,  D.  D.  Ferebee  of  Camden,  H.  Joyner  of 
Warren,  M.  E.  Manly  of  Craven,  A.  A.  McKoy  of  Sampson,  H. 
F.  Murphey  of  New  Hanover,  and  R.  H.  Ward  of  Rockingham. 
Judge  Howard  declared  that  he  and  his  people  were  unwilling  to 
vote  a  renunciation  of  their  beliefs  or  a  falsification  of  their  prin- 
ciples, but  were  ready  to  ratify  the  ordinance  and  abide  by  it  in 
good  faith  as  a  settlement  now  and  forever  of  the  question.  He 
said  afterwards,  speaking  of  his  course  in  the  Convention :  "I  be- 
sought no  leniency,  but  pursued  the  course  which  my  judgment 
and  conscience  approved."  Of  the  people  of  Edgecombe,  for 
whom  he  always  had  a  warm  affection,  he  said  : 

"In  the  noblest  and  most  republican  of  all  pursuits  they  brought  them- 
selves by  their  soundness  of  head  and  heart  to  the  position  of  the  banner 
county  of  the  State,  and  with  every  characteristic  of  true,  conservative 
republicanism  through  self-reliance — seeking  neither  position  nor  place 
nor  power,  with  no  airs  of  superiority,  no  cringing  to  power,  cherishing 
always  great  veneration  for  law  and  order,  an  earnest  devotion  to  the 
Constitution  of  our  fathers,  and  a  faithful  adherence  to  what  they  be- 
lieved to  be  the  true  interests  of  their  country — amid  the  wreck  of  their 
prosperity  and  the  desolation  of  their  homes  they  stand  ready  to  bury 
the  past  and  to  devote  their  energies  to  rebuilding  the  waste  places  and 
to  developing  the  new  civilization  by  which  they  are  surrounded." 

Judge  Howard  was  appointed  a  delegate  to,  and  attended,  the 
Convention  which  met  in  Philadelphia  August,  1866,  which  sus- 
tained the  policy  of  the  President.  He  was  elected  to  the  State 
Senate  of  1866-67.  At  this  time,  when  old  political  organizations 
were  dissolved  and  new  alignments  were  being  made,  "in  all 
things  true  to  the  honor  of  the  South  and  Democracy,  he  yet  be- 
lieved in  burying  the  past,  and  promptly  adjusted  our  laws  to  the 
civilization  of  freedom,  and  without  hesitancy  sustained  all  meas- 
ures necessary  to  the  adjustment  of  the  law  to  the  new  conditions 
resulting  from  the  war  and  the  abolition  of  slavery."  He  intro- 
duced the  bill,  which  was  enacted  into  law,  permitting  the  negroes 
to  testify  in  the  courts.     At  the  end  of  his  term  in  the  Senate, 


GEORGE  HOWARD  209 

Judge  Howard  retired  to  private  life,  engaging  actively  in  the 
practice  of  his  profession  in  Tarboro,  having  returned  to  his  native 
town  at  the  end  of  the  war.  By  the  enactment  of  the  reconstruc- 
tion measures,  followed  by  the  adoption  of  the  Constitution  of 
1868,  the  negroes  dominated  Edgecombe  and  other  eastern  coun- 
ties politically,  thus  forcing  into  retirement  many  of  the  wisest  and 
strongest  men  in  the  State.  During  the  struggle  of  the  people 
from  1868  to  1876  to  redeem  the  State,  Judge  Howard  was  "at  all 
times  a  quiet,  faithful,  unflinching  worker"  for  Democratic  su- 
premacy. 

In  the  spring  of  1878  his  friends  presented  his  name  to  the 
State  Democratic  Convention  for  nomination  as  Justice  of  the  Su- 
preme Court.  In  a  letter  to  a  personal  friend  and  prominent  gen- 
tleman, then  in  public  life,  he  said : 

"While  it  is  true,  as  I  stated  to  you,  that  the  position  of  Supreme  Court 
Justice  will,  if  conferred,  come  very  opportunely  and  turn  my  life  into 
a  channel  very  agreeable  to  my  wishes,  it  is  equally  true  that  I  shall  not 
permit  an  adverse  result  to  disturb  me.  The  friends  who  have  brought 
forward  my  name,  and  those  who  have  spoken  a  word  of  encouragement, 
have  done  so  without  any  suggestion  from  myself,  and  I  shall  ever  appre- 
ciate and  shall  ever  keep  in  green  remembrance  their  kind  efforts." 

This  was  the  last  time  which  he  permitted  himself  to  be  drawn 
into  a  political  contest.  He  received  a  very  flattering  vote  in  the 
Convention.  He  was  a  delegate  to  the  National  Democratic  Con- 
ventions of  1868  and  1880. 

At  the  General  Assembly  of  1885  he  was  elected  a  member  of 
the  Board  of  Trustees  of  the  University  of  North  Carolina  and  in 
the  summer  of  that  year  was  appointed  by  Governor  Scales  and 
served  on  a  commission  with  John  W.  Graham  and  Thomas  W. 
Patton,  charged  with  the  duty  of  revising  the  laws  for  the  assess- 
ment and  collection  of  revenue.  He  was  for  many  years,  until  by 
reason  of  failing  health  he  resigned,  a  Director  of  the  Wilmington 
and  Weldon  Railroad  and  Atlantic  Coast  Line  Railroad  Com- 
panies. He  was  the  first  President  and,  afterwards,  one  of  the 
Directors  of  the  Pamlico  Banking  and  Insurance  Company  and  a 


2IO  NORTH  CAROLINA 

Director  of  the  Tarboro  Cotton  Mills  and  Fountain  Cotton  Mills. 
He  was  at  all  times  deeply  interested  in  and  actively  promoted 
every  enterprise  looking  to  the  growth  and  improvement  of  his 
native  town,  serving  on  the  Board  of  Town  Commissioners,  on  the 
Board  of  Trustees  of  the  Tarboro  Academy  and  of  the  Public 
Schools. 

Together  with  all  thoughtful  citizens  of  this  and  other  Southern 
States,  Judge  Howard  gave  very  careful  thought  to  the  questions 
and  problems  growing  out  of  the  political  and  industrial  and  social 
relations  of  the  white  and  negro  races.  He  took  a  large  view  of 
the  subject  from  the  standpoint  of  a  well-wisher  of  the  negroes, 
and  greatly  desired  to  see  them  given  every  opportunity  to  im- 
prove their  condition.  He  favored  fair  and  liberal  aid  to  their, 
education.  In  common  with  the  large  majority  of  Southern  men, 
he  regarded  their  enfranchisement  in  1868  as  a  great  political  er- 
ror and  in  every  way  injurious  to  them  and  to  the  State.  In  1898, 
when  the  conditions  in  the  State  demanded  that  the  electorate  be 
placed  on  a  sound,  safe  basis,  he  became  deeply  interested,  express- 
ing his  thought  and  feelings  in  the  following  words : 

"The  negroes  are  bound  to  us  by  so  many  ties  and  have  been  led  or 
forced  into  their  present  position,  so  little  of  their  own  choice,  I  do  pray 
for  their  deliverance  from  destruction  or   further  degradation  and  hope 

that  enough  good  strong  men  may  be  found  to  protect  them 

The  problem  is  an  awful  one,  with  so  many  tendencies  to  the  degradation 
of  both  races,  yet  I  feel  hopeful  that  our  Christian  civilization  will  be 
able  to  master  it.'' 

He  indorsed  the  suffrage  amendment  of  1899,  although  he 
thought  that  a  small  property  qualification  should  be  made  to  en- 
courage the  negro  in  industry  and  economy. 

Judge  Howard  was  married  in  1861  to  Miss  Anna  Ragland 
Stamps,  daughter  of  Dr.  Thomas  Stamps,  a  prominent  physician 
and  citizen  of  Milton,  Caswell  County,  North  Carolina.  In  no 
event  of  his  life  was  he  so  abundantly  blessed  as  in  this  union, 
which  continued  with  ever-increasing  happiness  for  forty  years. 
Mrs.  Howard  died  on  the  nth  day  of  June,  1901.     On  February 


GEORGE  HOWARD  211 

24,  1905,  Judge  Howard  died  within  a  short  distance  of  the  spot 
where  he  was  born,  surrounded  by  his  children,  loved  and  honored 
by  those  among  whom  he  had  spent  his  honorable  and  useful  life. 
Six  children,  two  sons  and  four  daughters,  survive  him,  to  wit: 
George  Howard,  W.  Stamps  Howard,  Mrs.  Lizzie  Baker,  Mrs. 
Alice  Cobb,  Mrs.  Hattie  Holderness  and  Miss  Mary  Romain 
Howard. 

In  his  social  relations  Judge  Howard  was  genial,  kind,  sym- 
pathetic and  absolutely  loyal  to  his  friends.  In  his  family  rela- 
tions he  was  an  affectionate,  devoted  son,  brother,  husband  and 
father.  In  his  civil  and  political  relations  he  was  patriotic,  ever 
seeking  to  promote  the  welfare  of  the  community,  the  honor  of  his 
State,  and  the  preservation  of  constitutional  liberty,  by  insisting 
upon  a  strict  construction  and  honest  administration  of  govern- 
mental powers.  In  his  business  relations  he  was  just,  honest,  fair 
and,  to  the  unfortunate,  generous.  In  all  respects  "He  was  a 
strong  man.  He  was  an  independent  thinker.  His  matured 
opinions  were  deeply  rooted  and  he  adhered  to  them,  not  with 
animal  stubbornness,  but  with  a  moral  loyalty  which  no  opposition 
and  no  force  of  attack  could  weaken." 

His  religious  convictions  were  the  result  of  careful  study  of  the 
Scriptures ;  they  controlled  his  life  and  conduct.  He  believed 
strongly  and  deeply  in  the  fundamental  truths  of  Christianity,  ac- 
cepting the  doctrines  of  Calvinism  as  held  and  taught  by  the  Pres- 
byterian Church.  A  member  and  Ruling  Elder  of  the  Presby- 
terian Church,  he  greatly  admired  its  simple  forms  of  worship  and 
mode  of  government,  and  gave  largely  to  the  Church  and  to  the 
support  of  its  ministry.  At  Barium  Springs  Orphanage  he  erected 
a  commodious  building  as  an  appropriate  memorial  to  his  wife. 

Judge  Howard  was  among  the  strongest  men  reared  in  a  county 
which  has  produced  an  unusually  large  number  of  strong  men. 
He  possessed  a  singularly  strong  mind,  admirably  adapted  to  the 
study  and  practice  of  his  chosen  profession.  His  judgment  of 
men  and  things  was  sound,  conservative,  and  usually  correct. 
While  absolutely  free  from  the  slightest  approach  to  the  dema- 
gogue, he  was  an  ardent,  loyal  Democrat,  believing  intensely  in  the 


212 


NORTH  CAROLINA 


capacity  of  the  people  to  construct  and  administer  their  govern- 
ment through  their  chosen  officers.  He  had  a  zealous  regard  for 
the  rights  of  the  individual  and  was  quick  to  discover  and  prompt 
to  resent  any  tendency,  political  or  otherwise,  which  recognized  or 
encouraged  class  distinctions  or  special  privileges.  He  was  a  par- 
tisan, as  are  all  men  of  strong  convictions,  feeling  a  pride  in  the 
achievements  and  traditions  of  his  party  and  grieving  at  whatever 
he  regarded  as  a  departure  from  the  teachings  of  its  founders. 


Henry  G.  Connor. 


r-'cy  iuir^;-!^/'"^-^  ■S'-Bro  /-^ryr 


/JhisS.L  I'i"^  A^av'^--'.-^^-"'**" 


THOMAS    HUME 


JHOMAS  HUME  an  accomplished  English 
scholar  and  educator,  was  born  at  Portsmouth, 
Virginia,  October  21,  1836.  His  father  was  the 
Rev.  Thomas  Hume,  a  Baptist  clergyman,  born 
in  Smithfield,  Virginia,  and  his  mother,  Mary 
Ann  Gregory,  daughter  of  Dr.  Richard  B. 
Gregory,  of  Gloucester  County,  Virginia,  and  Jane  Adelaide 
Gregory,  of  Gates  County,  N.  C. 

His  paternal  grandfather  was  the  Rev.  Thomas  Hume,  of  Edin- 
burgh, Scotland,  who,  soon  after  his  graduation  from  the  Univer- 
sity of  Edinburgh  and  his  ordination  as  a  minister  of  the  Estab- 
lished (Presbyterian)  Church,  removed  to  the  United  States  to 
look  after  some  property  interests  in  this  country.  He  married  in 
Virginia,  where  his  only  child,  Thomas,  was  born,  and  died  sud- 
denly while  preaching  the  opening  sermon  as  Moderator  of  the 
Baltimore  Presbytery,  when  the  son  was  scarcely  six  years  old. 

Thomas  Hume,  the  father,  was  educated  at  the  Virginia  Bap- 
tist Seminary,  now  Richard  College,  became  pastor  of  the 
Court  Street  Baptist  Church,  Portsmouth,  Virginia,  before  he 
reached  his  twenty-first  year,  and  held  pastorates  in  Portsmouth 
and  Norfolk  for  forty  years.  Mr.  Hume  was  a  man  of  remarkable 
talent  and  many-sided  energy,  being  principal  owner  and  financial 
manager  of  Chesapeake  College,  Superintendent  of  Education  for 
the  city  of  Portsmouth  and  Norfolk  County,  president  of  a  bank- 
ing and  fire  insurance  company,  and  director  of  the  Seaboard  and 


214  NORTH  CAROLINA 

Roanoke  Railroad.  He  was  president  of  the  State  Convention  of 
his  denomination  and  of  many  benevolent  societies.  He  was  a  man 
ing  and  fire  insurance  company,  and  director  of  the  Seaboard  and 
of  broad  culture  and  deep  piety,  with  a  rare  balance  of  qualities,  a 
spiritual  leader,  and  yet  a  man  of  affairs. 

The  North  Carolina  side  of  his  mothers  line  was  connected 
with  our  Colonial  and  Revolutionary  life  through  the  Harveys, 
Gregorys,  and  Winns,  and  with  the  social  life  and  progress  of  the 
State.  On  the  Virginia  side  she  was  descended  from  a  long  line 
of  distinguished  English  physicians. 

Young  Thomas  Hume  was  a  somewhat  delicate  child,  but  very 
active  and  alert,  well  sustained  through  properly  directed  exercise, 
and  fond  of  the  special  pleasures  of  the  seaboard,  boating,  fishing, 
hunting,  and  of  the  usual  open-air  games.  His  childhood  was 
spent,  for  the  most  part,  in  the  city  of  Portsmouth,  with  frequent 
rides  to  plantations  on  Elizabeth  River  owned  by  his  father  and 
grandfather.  He  was  also  very  studious  and  fond  of  reading, 
with  large  opportunity  of  indulging  these  tastes.  His  circumstan- 
ces did  not  require  manual  labor  or  any  remunerative  employment, 
nor  did  he  have  any  special  difficulties  to  overcome  in  acquiring 
an  education.  His  inherited  tendencies  and  home  surroundings 
made  him  lay  hold  on  the  excellent  educational  opportunities  he 
enjoyed.  He  attended  the  Virginia  Collegiate  Institute  at  Ports- 
mouth, where  he  won  distinction  as  a  student  of  languages. 

At  the  age  of  fifteen  Thomas  Hume  entered  Richmond  College, 
where  he  was  graduated  with  the  degree  of  Bachelor  of  Arts. 
A  year  later  he  entered  the  University  of  Virginia,  where  he 
did  advanced  work  and  obtained  diplomas  in  several  schools. 
While  at  the  University  of  Virginia  he  was  Washington  society 
editor  of  The  Literary  Magazine,  and  president  of  the  Young 
Men's  Christian  Association,  which  he  had  helped  to  organize 
and  whose  constitution  he  wrote,  the  first  College  Young  Men's 
Christian  Association  in  the  world.  These  interests  of  his  college 
days  he  has  always  sustained,  and  is  now  a  member  of  the  ad- 
visory committees  of  the  magazine  and  the  Y.M.C.A.  at  the  Uni- 
versity of  North  Carolina. 


THOMAS  HUME  215 


As  he  purposed  devoting  himself  to  the  business  of  teaching, 
young  Hume  accepted  the  professorship  of  French  and  Enghsh 
Literature  in  Chesapeake  Female  College,  near  Old  Point  Com- 
fort, but  had  not  fairly  begun  work  when  the  war  broke  up  that 
prosperous  institution.  During  his  residence  there  the  church  at 
Portsmouth,  of  which  he  was  a  member,  corresponded  with  him 
in  regard  to  his  duty  to  enter  the  ministry,  and  urged  upon  him 
the  acceptance  of  a  license  to  preach.  He  purposed  continuing 
his  course  in  a  German  university,  but  was  prevented  by  the  open- 
ing of  the  Civil  War. 

When  the  war  began  he  became  a  member  of  the  Third  Regi- 
ment, Virginia  Infantry,  of  which  he  was  made  chaplain,  but  after 
continued  field  service  was  transferred  to  the  post-chaplaincy  at 
Petersburg,  Virginia,  the  most  important  of  hospital  stations  dur- 
ing the  siege  of  that  place.  He  remained  in  Petersburg  as  the 
official  pastor  of  the  Confederate  hospitals  till  General  Lee's 
surrender. 

After  the  war  he  became  principal  of  the  Petersburg  Classifal 
Institute,  a  college  preparatory  school  of  one  hundred  pupils,  and 
there  in  concert  with  Thomas  R.  Price  and  W.  Gordon  McCabe 
he  began  the  movement  for  the  better  teaching  of  our  own  lan- 
guage and  literature  in  the  South.  He  traveled  and  studied 
abroad,  and  on  his  return  became  president  of  Roanoke  College, 
Danville,  Virginia,  serving  the  Baptist  church  of  Danville  as  pastor 
for  several  years.  From  1876  until  1885  he  again  made  Norfolk 
his  home,  and  was  Professor  of  English  and  Latin  in  Norfolk 
College  and  for  four  years  pastor  of  the  First  Baptist  Church.  He 
was  for  five  years  lecturer  on  English  philology  and  literature  in 
the  National  Summer  School  for  teachers  at  Glens  Falls,  New 
York,  and  has  for  several  years  given  lectures  before  literary  so- 
cieties, clubs,  and  colleges  on  educational  and  literary  topics.  For 
three  years  he  has  conducted  courses  in  the  Summer  School  of 
the  South  at  the  University  of  Tennessee. 

Dr.  Hume  became  Professor  of  the  English  Language  and  Lit- 
erature in  the  University  of  North  Carolina,  at  Chapel  Hill,  in 
T885,  where  he  has  done  good  service  to  the  cause  of  education 


2i6  NORTH  CAROLINA 

throughout  the  State  in  organizing  and  conducting  the  work  of  his 
department  in  English  Philology  as  well  as  Literature  and  in 
stimulating  interest  in  the  study  of  literature  and  the  teaching 
of  English.  He  has  also  extended  his  work  into  other  States 
where  he  has  been  much  sought  after  as  a  lecturer.  He  has 
been  active  in  the  years  gone  by  in  the  Teachers'  Assembly,  in 
Biblical  assemblies,  in  the  religious  work  of  his  own  denom- 
ination, and  in  cooperation  with  Christians  of  every  name  es- 
pecially interested  in  Christian  work  in  colleges.  The  National 
Executive  Committee  of  the  Young  Men's  Christian  Association 
nominated  Dr.  Hume  as  director  of  their  work  in  the  towns  and 
colleges  of  North  Carolina,  and  for  five  years  after  coming  to  the 
State  he  gave  his  services  as  superintendent  of  that  work.  He  is- 
sued some  Helps  to  the  Study  of  Shakespeare  before  coming  to  the 
University  of  North  Carolina.  The  pressure  of  work  in  his  de- 
partment, until  quite  recently,  has  allowed  him  little  time  for  the 
execution  of  literary  plans  long  since  matured.  His  department 
v,as  divided  in  1902,  when  he  became  Professor  of  English  Litera- 
ture, and  his  friends  hope  that  the  ripest  years  of  his  life  will  be 
devoted  largely  to  literary  production.  His  lectures  and  dis- 
courses published  in  newspapers  and  magazines  lead  us  to  expect 
iTiuch  from  him  in  this  direction. 

Doctor  Hume  has  received  the  degree  of  A.  M.  and  D.  D.  from 
Richmond  College,  Virginia,  and  the  degree  of  LL.  D.  from  Wake 
Forest  College,  North  Carolina.  He  is  a  member  of  the  Modern 
Language  Association  of  America,  is  president  of  the  Shakespeare 
Club,  and  has  been  president  of  the  Philological  Club  of  the  Uni- 
versity of  North  Carolina  and  of  the  North  Carolina  Baptist  His- 
torical Society. 

Dr.  Hume  inaugurated  the  movement  that  led  to  the  establish- 
ment of  the  Chair  of  English  in  the  University  of  Virginia,  and 
was  offered  the  professorship. 

In  politics  he  has  always  been  a  staunch  Democrat.  Of  Pres- 
byterian stock  on  his  father's  side  and  Episcopal  on  his  mother's 
side,  he  is  at  once  a  loyal  and  liberal  Baptist.  "I  have  had  to 
weigh  my  convictions,"  he  says,  and  "estimate  those  of  others  dis- 


THOMAS  HUME  217 


criminatingly  and  liberally  and  cultivate  sympathy  with  'whatso- 
things  are  true.' " 

From  childhood  Dr.  Hume  has  been  a  devotee  of  standard 
literature  and  a  close  student  of  the  Bible.  His  tastes  and 
personal  preferences  led  him  into  teaching,  and  his  interest  in 
literature  has  sustained  him  in  it.  A  sense  of  responsibility  for, 
and  peculiar  relations  to,  the  religious  life  of  his  first  pupils  led  him 
to  combine  preaching  with  teaching,  and  he  is  widely  known  both 
as  preacher  and  teacher. 

Dr.  Hume's  experience  and  observation  would  suggest  to 
young  Americans  that  "culture  for  service  should  be  the  ideal 
and  the  motive.  Make  the  best  of  yourself  because  God  ex- 
pects it  and  is  ever  with  you,  and  because  you  can  thus  serve  your 
fellow-men.  Do  the  thorough  work  required  by  this  ideal  and  let 
success  take  care  of  itself,  and  you  will  have  the  best  safeguard 
against  depression  and  against  materialism.  Study!  Study! 
Work !  Work !  Live  for  the  human  brotherhood." 

One  of  his  most  accomplished  students  says  that  his  enthusiasm 
is  contagious  and  inspiring.  While  he  is  a  careful  scholar  and 
exact  in  his  method,  his  teaching  makes  its  appeal  to  the  imagina- 
tion and  the  moral  nature. 

A  well-known  educator  once  remarked  that  Dr.  Hume's  mission 
had  been  to  bring  men  to  the  spiritual  interpretation  of  literature. 
The  founder  of  a  prize  in  the  University  in  honor  of  Dr.  Hume 
describes  him  as  the  most  illuminating  man  in  the  teaching  of 
literature  he  has  ever  listened  to  and  that  he  interprets  Shake- 
speare in  the  mere  reading  of  it. 

Dr.  Hume  married,  October  31,  1878,  Anne  Louise  Whites- 
carver,  and  to  them  were  born  four  children :  Thomas,  Anne  Wil- 
mer,  wife  of  Professor  W.  R.  Vance,  Washington,  D.  C,  Mary 
Baynham  Gregory,  and  Helen. 

Collier  Cobb. 


THEOPHILUS    HUNTER 

;  EW  men  were  so  closely  identified  with  the  form- 
ation of  Wake  County  and  its  early  history,  both 
Colonial  and  Revolutionary,  as  Colonel  Theo- 
philus  Hunter.  His  home  was  Hunter's  Lodge, 
three  or  four  miles  south  of  the  present  city 
of  Raleigh,  on  what  is  now  called  the  Fayette- 
ville  road.  Spring  Hill,  a  plantation  somewhat  nearer  Raleigh, 
was  the  home  of  his  son,  Theophilus  Hunter,  Jr.,  who  died  about 
1840. 

Wake  County  was  created  by  Chapter  22  of  the  Public  Laws  of 
1770,  but  said  Act  did  not  take  efifect  till  March  12,  1771.  The 
charter  of  the  county  was  of  a  later  date  by  a  few  months,  being 
signed  by  Governor  Tryon  on  the  22d  of  May,  1771.  During 
the  space  intervening  between  the  date  of  the  act  of  creation  and 
the  time  when  Tryon's  charter  made  Wake  a  complete  and  dis- 
tinct county,  much  work  had  to  be  done  in  the  way  of  laying  out 
boundaries,  erecting  buildings  and  the  like.  The  above  mentioned 
chapter  appointed  Theophilus  Hunter  one  of  the  commissioners 
to  run  the  boundary  between  Wake  and  its  mother  counties  of 
Johnston,  Orange,  and  Cumberland.  He  was  also  appointed  one 
of  the  commissioners  to  lay  of?  land  on  which  to  erect  a  court 
house,  jail,  stocks,  etc. ;  and  it  was  the  duty  of  another  board  of 
which  he  was  a  member  to  contract  with  workmen  for  the  erection 
of  said  buildings. 


THEOPHILUS  HUNTER  219 

When  Governor  Tryon  was  on  his  march  to  quell  the  insurrec- 
tion of  the  Regulators  in  the  spring  of  1771,  he  made  Hunter's 
Lodge  (the  seat  of  Colonel  Hunter)  the  principal  place  of  rendez- 
vous for  his  troops,  and  his  personal  headquarters  v^fere  there  from 
the  2d  until  the  8th  of  May.  There  he  was  joined  by  the  Wake 
troops  under  Colonel  John  Hinton,  and  by  re-enforcements  from 
other  counties.  When  the  army  marched  back  from  its  campaign, 
vmder  the  command  of  Colonel  John  Ashe  (Tryon  himself  having 
returned  earlier),  the  Wake  regiment  was  disbanded  at  Hunter's 
Lodge. 

The  first  Court  of  Pleas  and  Quarter  Sessions  which  ever  met 
in  Wake  County  held  its  session  on  the  4th  of  June,  1771.  Of 
this  tribunal,  Theophilus  Hunter  was  the  Presiding  Justice,  and 
ten  other  Justices  sat  with  him.  The  county-seat  of  Wake,  where 
the  meetings  of  this  Court  took  place,  was  sometimes  called 
Bloomsbury,  sometimes  Wake  Court  House,  and  sometimes 
Wake  Cross-Roads.  It  was  about  where  Raleigh  is  now  located. 
The  Provincial  Council  of  Safety  met  there  in  1776,  and  the  As- 
sembly in  1 78 1.  Hunter  was  a  justice  of  the  above  court  not 
only  while  North  Carolina  was  a  British  dependency,  but  on  the 
23d  of  December,  1776,  was  elected  to  the  same  post  by  the  Pro- 
vincial Congress  at  Halifax,  when  the  Colony  had  become  an 
independent  State.  As  early  as  the  6th  of  October,  1772,  if  not 
prior  thereto.  Hunter  held  a  commission  as  major  of  the  Wake 
County  regiment  of  the  colonial  militia  of  North  Carolina,  com- 
manded by  Colonel  John  Hinton,  and  was  continued  in  this  regi- 
ment with  the  rank  of  lieutenant-colonel,  when  the  Whigs  as- 
sumed the  control  of  the  State  and  began  their  efforts  for  inde- 
pendence. 

The  first  service  rendered  by  Theophilus  Hunter  to  the  cause  of 
the  American  Colonies  was  in  the  Provincial  Congress  of  North 
Carolina  which  met  at  Hillsboro  in  August,  1775,  when  he  sat  as 
a  delegate  from  Wake  County.  That  body,  on  the  9th  of  Septem- 
ber, elected  him  lieutenant-colonel  of  North  Carolina  troops  for 
the  county  of  Wake;  and  he  was  reelected  to  the  same  rank  on 
the  22d  of  April,  1776,  by  the  Provincial  Congress  at  Halifax. 


220  NORTH  CAROLINA 

On  the  19th  of  April,  1776,  he  was  also  elected  a  member  of  a 
committee  whose  duty  it  was  to  secure  arms  and  ammunition  for 
the  Continental  Army.  About  the  beginning  of  the  year  1778  he 
became  county  surveyor  of  Wake.  He  was  also  the  county's  rep- 
resentative in  the  North  Carolina  House  of  Commons  at  its  ses- 
sion of  1783. 

In  1790,  when  the  first  official  census  of  the  United  States  was 
taken,  Colonel  Hunter  owned  more  slaves  than  any  other  citizen 
of  Wake  County  except  William  Jeffries. 

In  the  will  of  Colonel  Hunter  he  refers  to  his  wife  as  Jane  Hun- 
ter, but  her  maiden  name  is  unknown  to  the  present  writer.  Among 
the  children  he  left  were  three  sons:  Theophilus  (commonly 
known  as  "Orphy"),  who  died  about  1840  in  Wake  County; 
Henry,  who  died  in  Wake  County  in  1810 ;  and  Osborne,  who  died 
in  Johnston  County  in  1810.  In  addition  to  these  sons  were 
four  daughters :  Delilah,  who  married  Colonel  James  Hin- 
ton ;  Irene,  who  married  a  Mr.  Lane ;  Mary,  or  "Polly,"  who  mar- 
ried Governor  Gabriel  Holmes ;  and  Edith,  who  remained  un- 
married. 

From  the  above  children  of  Colonel  Hunter  have  descended  a 
numerous  posterity,  among  whom  were  Lieutenant-General  The- 
ophilus Hunter  Holmes,  of  the  Confederate  Army,  and  the  North 
Carolina  poet,  Theophilus  Hunter  Hill. 

Colonel  Hunter  died  either  in  the  year  1797  or  early  in  1798. 

Marshall  De  Lancey  Haywood. 


JAMES  JACK 

HE  family  of  Jack  (which  is  now  well  scattered 
throughout  the  United  States)  resided  for  the 
most  part  in  Pennsylvania  and  North  Carolina 
during  the  colonial  period  and  at  the  time  of 
the  Revolution.  It  was  of  Scotch-Irish  de- 
scent. Several  brothers  of  the  name  came  to 
Pennsylvania  from  Ireland  about  the  year  1730,  and  one  of  these, 
Patrick  Jack,  made  his  home  in  North  Carolina  about  the  year 
1760.  His  first  place  of  residence  was  in  Rowan  County.  At 
the  tirne  of  the  Revolution  he  was  well  advanced  in  age,  and  was 
living  in  the  little  hamlet  of  Charlotte,  in  Mecklenburg  County, 
where  a  number  of  children  had  grown  up  about  him.  So  patri- 
otic were  his  four  sons  in  the  War  for  Independence,  and  so  pro- 
nounced were  the  old  man's  own  views  on  the  subject  of  liberty, 
that  when  the  British  entered  Charlotte  on  September  26,  1780, 
he  was  dragged  from  a  bed  of  sickness  out  of  doors  and  his  house 
consigned  to  the  flames.  "All  of  old  Jack's  sons  are  in  the  rebel 
army,  and  he  himself  is  a  promoter  of  treason,"  said  the  British, 
by  way  of  an  explanation  of  their  barbarity.  The  aged  patriot 
did  not  long  survive  this  ill-usage,  and  died  before  independence 
was  acknowledged.  His  nine  children  were  James  Jack  (subject 
of  this  sketch),  whose  Revolutionary  services  were  in  North  Caro- 
lina and  who  later  removed  to  Georgia;  John  Jack,  who  also  re- 
moved to  Georgia;  Samuel  Jack,  who  was  twice  married  and 


222  NORTH  CAROLINA 

left  descendants ;  Robert  Jack,  who  remained  in  Pennsylvania,  but 
whose  only  married  son,  John,  died  in  Romney,  Virginia,  where 
he  left  descendants ;  Charity  Jack,  who  married  Dr.  Cornelius 
Dysart;  Jane  Jack,  who  married  William  Barnett;  Mary  Jack, 
who  married  Captain  Robert  Alexander;  Margaret  Jack,  who 
married  Samuel  Wilson;  and  Lillie  Jack,  who  married  Joseph 
Nicholson.  From  these  children  hundreds  of  descendants  have 
sprung. 

To  the  career  of  Captain  James  Jack  we  shall  now  confine  our 
remarks.  The  date  of  his  birth  is  stated  in  one  account  to  have 
been  1739.  This  corresponds  with  his  obituary,  which  says  that 
he  was  in  his  eight- fourth  year  when  he  died  in  December,  1822 ; 
yet  he  stated  in  December,  i8ig,  that  he  was  then  in  his  eighty- 
eighth  year.     This  would  made  1732  the  date  when  he  was  born. 

He  had  reached  years  of  maturity  when  he  removed  with  the 
other  members  of  his  father's  family  to  North  Carolina.  On  the 
20th  of  November,  1766,  he  married  Margaret  Houston;  and,  in 
October,  1768,  set  up  a  household  of  his  own  in  the  hill  country  at 
the  headwaters  of  the  Catawba  river.  There  he  remained  until 
August,  1772,  when  he  removed  to  his  father's  home  in  Mecklen- 
burg County,  and  the  entire  family  moved  into  the  town  of  Char- 
lotte in  February,  1773.  In  Charlotte,  Patrick  Jack  (father  of 
James)  opened  an  inn;  and  at  a  later  time,  owing  to  the  infirmi- 
ties of  age,  the  active  management  of  this  establishment  fell  upon 
James.  Both  father  and  son  prospered  in  a  business  way,  and  be- 
came owners  of  much  landed  property  in  the  vicinity  of  Char- 
lotte. In  this  town  they  were  living  at  the  outbreak  of  the  Revo- 
lution, their  inn  being  a  favorite  resort  for  the  patriots  of  Mecklen- 
burg— so  much  so  that  the  British  did  not  fail  to  destroy  it  when 
an  opportunity  ofifered,  as  heretofore  noted. 

The  Spring  of  1775  found  the  entire  Jack  family  arrayed  on 
the  side  of  the  Colonies,  and  when  the  Mecklenburg  patriots  took 
their  famous  action  in  May  of  that  year,  James  Jack  rode  as  an 
express  messenger  from  Charlotte  to  Philadelphia  to  make  known 
to  the  Continental  Congress  the  action  of  the  people  of  Meck- 
lenburg.    His  journey  was  in  June. 


JAMES  JACK  223 


On  December  7,  1819,  Captain  Jack  made  an  affidavit  in  which 
he  said : 

"Having  seen  in  the  newspapers  some  pieces  respecting  the  Declara- 
tion of  Independence  by  the  people  of  Mecklenburg  County  in  the  State 
of  North  Carolina,  in  May,  1775,  and  being  solicited  to  state  what  I  know 
of  that  transaction,  I  would  observe  that  for  some  time  previous  to,  and 
at  the  time  those  resolutions  were  agreed  upon,  I  resided  in  the  town  of 
Charlotte,  Mecklenburg  County;  was  privy  to  a  number  of  meetings  of 
some  of  the  most  influential  and  leading  characters  of  that  county  on  the 
subject  before  the  final  adoption  of  the  resolutions  and  at  the  time  they 
were  adopted.  Among  those  who  appeared  to  take  the  lead  may  be 
mentioned  Hezekiah  Alexander,  who  generally  acted  as  chairman,  John 
McKnitt  Alexander,  as  secretary,  Abraham  Alexander,  Adam  Alexander, 
Major  John  Davidson,  Major  (after  General)  William  Davidson,  Colonel 
Thomas  Polk,  Ezekiel  Polk,  Dr.  Ephraim  Brevard,  Samuel  Martin,  Duncan 
Ochletree,  William  Wilson,  Robert  Irwin. 

"When  the  resolutions  were  finally  agreed  on,  they  were  publicly  pro- 
claimed from  the  court  house  door  in  the  town  of  Charlotte,  and  received 
with  every  demonstration  of  joy  by  the  inhabitants. 

"I  was  then  solicited  to  be  the  bearer  of  the  proceedings  to  Congress. 
I  set  out  the  following  month,  say  June,  and  in  passing  through  Salis- 
bury, the  General  Court  was  sitting;  at  the  request  of  the  Court  I  handed 
a  copy  of  the  resolutions  to  Colonel  Kennon,  an  attorney,  and  they  were 
read  aloud  in  open  court.  Major  William  Davidson  and  Mr.  Avery,  an 
attorney,  called  on  me  at  my  lodgings  the  evening  after,  and  observed 
they  had  heard  of  but  one  person,  a  Mr.  Beard,  but  approved  of  them. 
I  then  proceeded  on  to  Philadelphia,  and  delivered  the  Mecklenburg 
Declaration  of  Independence  of  May,  1775,  to  Richard  Caswell  and  Wil- 
liam Hooper,  the  delegates  to  Congress  from  the  State  of  North  Carolina. 

"I  am  now  in  the  88th  year  of  my  age,  residing  in  the  county  of  Elbert 
in  the  State  of  Georgia.  I  was  in  the  Revolutionary  War  from  the  com- 
mencement to  the  close." 

During  the  first  week  in  June,  1775,  there  was  in  session  at 
Salisbury  a  Court  of  Oyer  and  Terminer  appointed  by  Act  of 
Assembly  for  all  the  counties  of  the  Salisbury  district,  with  jurors 
drawn  from  Mecklenburg  and  the  other  counties  of  the  district  as 
well.  Colonel  Alexander  Martin  was  the  judge  holding  the  Court, 
and  he  appointed  Adlai  Osborne  clerk.  Some  of  the  jurors  drawn 
from  Mecklenburg  County,  belonging  to  the  Alexander  family  and 


224  NORTH  CAROLINA 

others  participating  in  these  patriotic  meetings  at  Charlotte,  did 
not  attend,  probably  because  they  had  already  set  up  an  independ- 
ent government  for  themselves  and  did  not  recognize  the  General 
Court  held  under  the  laws  of  the  Province.  Colonel  Martin  and 
Adlai  Osborne,  like  the  other  principal  persons  at  Salisbury  ex- 
cept two  lawyers,  Dunn  and  Boote,  were,  however,  warm  and 
zealous  patriots,  and  it  was  altogether  natural  that  the  proceed- 
ings of  the  Mecklenburg  people  should  have  been  read  in  open 
court  with  the  sanction  of  Colonel  Martin,  the  acting  judge.  Less 
than  two  months  after  that,  it  being  suspected  that  Dunn  and 
Boote  were  dangerous  characters.  Colonel  Martin  having  consult- 
ed with  Colonel  Polk,  Sam  Spencer,  Adlai  Osborne,  Colonel  Ken- 
non,  and  others,  caused  them  to  be  arrested,  and  under  the  escort 
of  60  armed  men  commanded  by  Colonel  Polk,  removed  to  South 
Carolina,  where  they  were  kept  in  confinement  for  more  than 
a  year.  Colonel  Martin  was  thanked  for  this  action  by  the  Com- 
mittee of  Safety  at  Salisbury  immediately  afterwards. 

According  to  Captain  Jack's  own  statement  he  served  in  the 
Revolutionary  War  from  the  commencement  to  the  close.  For  a 
more  detailed  account  of  his  services,  we  are  indebted  to  the  His- 
tory of  Mecklenburg  County  by  Dr.  Alexander,  which  says: 

"He  probably  served  in  the  Snow  campaign  in  1775.  His  large  ac- 
quaintance with  the  people  enabled  him  to  raise  a  company  of  men  whom 
he  led  forth  on  Rutherford's  Cherokee  campaign  in  1776.  He  was  with  the 
troops  embodied  who  opposed  Cornwallis  when  he  entered  Charlotte  in 
September,  1781.  Captain  Jack  also  led  his  company  in  General 
Polk's  brigade  in  April,  1781,  joining  General  Greene  at  Rugely's  Mills 
and  serving  a  three  months'  tour  of  duty.  The  particulars  of  other  ser- 
vices of  Captain  Jack  are  not  preserved.  It  is  only  known  that  he  was 
ever  ready  for  service,  and  was  so  popular  with  his  company  that  they 
induced  him  not  to  seek  or  accept  promotions,  which  indeed  he  did  not 
desire.  .  .  .  The  close  of  the  war  left  him  poor.  He  had  freely 
advanced  all  that  he  possessed  in  the  great  struggle,  a  portion  of  it  as  a 
loan  to  North  Carolina.  His  unrequited  claims  at  the  time  of  his  death, 
upon  North  Carolina,  amounted  to  7,446  pounds  State  currency.  In  1783 
Captain  Jack  removed  to  Georgia,  settling  in  Wilkes  County." 

In  1790,  after  James  Jack  had  settled  in  Wilkes  County,  Geor- 


JAMES  JACK  225 


gia,  a  new  county  was  severed  therefrom  and  named  for  the  noted 
statesman  and  patriot,  Governor  Samuel  Elbert. 

In  Elbert  County  the  remainder  of  Captain  Jack's  life  was  spent. 
There  he  engaged  in  farming.  His  death  occurred  on  the  i8th  of 
December,  1822.  His  connection  with  the  Mecklenburg  Declara- 
tion of  Independence  invests  his  career  with  particular  interest. 
An  interesting  obituary  of  him  appeared  in  the  Raleigh  Register 
of  January  17,  I823,  and  we  here  reproduce  it  in  full: 

"Died. — In  Elbert  County,  Georgia,  on  the  i8th  instant  (ultimo), 
Captain  James  Jack,  in  the  84th  year  of  his  age.  He  was  born  in  the 
State  of  Pennsylvania,  from  whence  he  removed  to  North  Carolina  and 
settled  in  the  town  of  Charlotte,  where  he  remained  till  the  end  of  the 
Revolutionary  War,  in  which  he  took  a  decided  and  active  part  from 
the  commencement  to  the  close,  after  which  he  removed  to  Georgia  with 
his  family,  whom  he  supported  by  the  sweat  of  his  brow.  He  spent  the 
prime  of  his  life  and  his  little  all  in  the  glorious  struggle  for  independ- 
ence, and  enjoyed  it  with  a  heart  warmed  with  gratitude  to  the  God 
of  battles.  In  the  spring  of  '75  he  was  the  bearer  of  the  Mecklenburg 
Declaration  of  Independence  to  Congress.  His  claims  on  the  State  of 
North  Carolina  for  Revolutionary  services  and  expenditures  were 
audited  by  Colonel  Matthew  Locke,  and  amounted  to  7,646  pounds  in 
currency.  Those  papers  being  of  little  value  at  that  time,  he  left  them 
in  the  hands  of  a  friend,  who  dying  some  years  after,  the  claim  to  him 
was  lost.  It  fell,  possibly,  into  the  hands  of  some  speculator,  who  may 
be  now  faring  sumptuously  on  the  fruits  of  his  toil.  But  wealth  had  no 
charm  for  him ;  he  looked  for  a  'house  not  made  with  hands,  eternal 
in  the  heavens,  whose  builder  and  maker  is  God.'  He  has  left  a  widow, 
two  sons  (his  eldest,  Colonel  Patrick  Jack,  of  the  U.  S.  army  in  her 
late  contest  with  Britain,  having  died  about  two  years  past),  a  daughter, 
besides  a  numerous  offspring  of  grandchildren  and  great-grandchildren. 
Some  few  of  his  old  comrades  who  bore  the  burden  and  the  heat  of  the 
day  are  still  living.  Should  this  notice  catch  the  eye  of  any  one  of  them, 
it  may  draw  forth  a  sigh  or  elicit  a  tear  to  the  memory  of  their  friend, 
more  to  be  valued  than  a  marble  monument." 

By  reference  to  an  army  register  covering  the  period  when  he 
served  during  the  war  of  i8i2-'i5,  we  find  the  record  of  Patrick 
Jack  (son  of  Captain  James  Jack)  to  have  been  as  follows:  Born 
in  North  Carolina,  and  appointed  to  the  army  from  Georgia, 


226  NORTH  CAROLINA 

on  April  2,  1812,  as  lieutenant-colonel  of  the  Eighth  infantry; 
promoted  to  the  rank  of  colonel  on  July  6,  1812,  honorably  dis- 
charged on  June  15,  1815 ;  and  died  on  January  25,  1821. 

The  account  of  the  origin  of  the  Jack  family  given  in  the  begin- 
ning of  this  sketch,  we  have  drawn  from  the  sketches  of  North 
Carolina  by  C.  L.  Hunter.  In  that  work  we  also  find  some  ac- 
count of  the  descendants  of  Captain  James  Jack  and  his  wife  Mar- 
garet Houston.  Their  children  were  five  in  number,  as  follows : 
Cynthia  Jack,  born  September  20,  1767,  who  married  A.  S.  Cosby, 
and  left  descendants  :  Patrick  Jack  (Colonel  U.  S.  army,  as  above), 
born  September  27,  1769,  who  married  Harriet  Spencer  and  left 
descendants;  William  Houston  Jack,  born  June  6,  1771,  who  mar- 
ried Frances  Cummins  and  left  descendants ;  Archibald  Jack,  born 
April  20,  1773,  who  died  young;  James  Jack,  Jr.,  born  Septem- 
ber 20,  1775,  who  married  Annie  Barnett,  and  left  descendants. 
Colonel  Patrick  Jack,  U.  S.  A.,  above  mentioned,  had  a  son,  Cap- 
tain Abner  M.  Jack,  who  was  the  father  of  Guy  Jack,  to  whom  we 
shall  presently  refer. 

The  scope  of  the  present  sketch  will  not  admit  of  a  detailed  ac- 
count of  the  numerous  posterity  which  has  sprung  from  the  above 
children  of  Captain  Jack.  Their  lives  have  been  spent  for  the 
most  part,  in  Georgia,  the  Gulf  States,  and  Arkansas. 

The  descendants  of  the  old  patriot,  Captain  James  Jack,  have 
shown  themselves  in  all  wars  succeeding  the  Revolution  to  be 
worthy  of  such  an  ancestor.  His  son  was  an  officer  in  the  second 
war  with  Great  Britain;  grandsons  fought  for  Texan  indepen-, 
dence  at  San  Jacinto,  and  were  also  in  the  war  with  Mexico ;  and 
in  the  Confederate  army  were  more  remote  descendants.  One  of 
the  family's  present  members,  Guy  Jack,  of  Kemper  County,  Mis- 
sissippi, wrote  an  account  of  his  family  for  the  "Monument  Edi- 
tion" of  the  Charlotte  Observer  of  May  20,  1898,  when  the  war 
with  Spain  was  in  progress,  saying  in  conclusion :  "I  was  too 
young  to  go  with  my  father  to  battle  for  Southern  rights.  I  have 
volunteered  my  services  to  my  State  should  I  be  needed  to  fight 
for  America's  honor  and  the  freedom  of  the  oppressed  in  the  war 
now  going  on.    God  has  blessed  me  with  a  happy  home,  the  best 


JAMES  JACK 


227 


wife  in  the  world,  and  seven  of  the  finest  Httle  Jacks  in  America, 
all  without  spot  or  blemish." 

While  the  commendable  occupation  of  raising  "little  Jacks 
without  spot  or  blemish"  is  continued  in  different  branches  of  the 
family,  we  may  safely  predict  that  the  name  will  not  be  unknown 
hereafter  when  America  needs  the  services  of  her  patriotic  sons 
either  in  peace  or  in  war. 

Marshall  De  Lancey  Haywood. 


ANDREW   JOHNSON 

PN  Pullen  Park  in  the  suburbs  of  the  city  of  Ra- 
leigh is  an  odd,  old-fashioned  house,  contain- 
ing but  two  rooms,  one  above  the  other,  which 
the  patriotic  ladies  of  the  city  have  removed 
from  its  original  site  to  the  Park  for  preserva- 
tion. It  is  the  house  in  which  was  born  Andrew 
Johnson,  President  of  the  United  States  during  the  period  of  Re- 
construction, who  was  impeached  by  the  aggressive  element  of  the 
Republican  Party  because  of  political  differences  in  regard  to  the 
treatment  of  the  white  people  of  the  South  after  the  war  between 
the  States. 

Andrew  Johnson  was  born  in  Raleigh  on  December  29,  1808. 
His  father,  Jacob  Johnson,  had  been  a  soldier  in  the  Revolutionary 
War.  At  the  time  of  his  death  in  1812  he  was  city  constable,  sex- 
ton and  porter  to  the  State  Bank.  His  death,  was  hastened  by 
exertions  in  saving  the  life  of  a  friend  from  drowning.  "Although 
for  many  years  Jacob  Johnson  had  occupied  but  an  humble  sta- 
tion, in  his  last  illness,"  says  the  editor  of  The  Raleigh  Star,  in  its 
issue  of  January  12,  1812,  "he  was  visited  by  the  principal  in- 
habitants of  the  city,  by  all  of  whom  he  was  esteemed  for  his 
honesty,  sobriety,  industry,  and  his  humane,  friendly  disposition. 
Among  all  by  whom  he  was  known  and  esteemed,  none  lament 
him,  except  perhaps  his  own  relatives,  more  than  the  publisher  of 
this  paper,  for  he  owes  his  life  on  a  particular  occasion  to  the 
kindness  and  humanity  of  Johnson." 


ANDREW  JOHNSON  229 

Mrs.  Johnson  was  left  very  poor  at  her  husband's  death;  and 
her  son,  the  subject  of  this  sketch,  had  no  educational  advantages 
whatever.  He  never  attended  school  a  day  in  his  life.  At  the 
age  of  ten  he  was  apprenticed  to  a  tailor  in  Raleigh,  and  during 
that  period  of  his  life  he  used  to  listen  with  delight  to  a  young 
man,  William  G.  Hill,  afterwards  an  esteemed  physician  of  the 
city  of  Raleigh,  as  he  read  to  the  boys  at  work  extracts  from  the 
speeches  of  Burke,  Pitt  and  others,  from  the  Columbian  Orator, 
and  observing  his  interest  in  the  book,  young  Hill  gave  it  to  him. 
At  the  time  Andrew  Johnson  did  not  know  a  letter  of  the  alphabet, 
and  from  this  book,  by  application  and  unaided,  he  learn  to  read. 

At  the  age  of  16  he  ran  away  from  his  master  and  worked  for 
some  time  as  a  journeyman  tailor  at  Laurens,  South  Carolina.  Re- 
turning home,  in  May,  1826,  he  accompanied  his  mother  and  step- 
father to  Greeneville,  Tennessee.  The  party  set  out  from  Raleigh 
with  all  their  possessions  in  a  two-wheeled  cart  drawn  by  a  blind 
pony.  The  long  and  dangerous  journey  was  successfully  accom- 
plished. Arriving  at  Greeneville,  young  Johnson  soon  obtained 
employment  and  very  speedily  married  Eliza  McCardle,  a  young 
woman  of  refinement  and  some  education,  who  taught  him  to 
write.  In  1828,  while  still  under  age,  he  was  elected  an  alderman 
of  Greeneville,  and  two  years  later  he  became  mayor  of  the  town ; 
and  the  next  year  he  was  appointed  by  the  County  Court  a  trustee 
of  Rhea  Academy,  and  he  participated  in  the  debates  of  a  literary 
society  of  Greeneville  College.  Evidently  the  disadvantages  of 
his  deficient  education  had  by  this  time  been  somewhat  overcome. 
He  was  a  democrat  by  nature  and  by  the  circumstances  of  his 
life ;  and  when  in  1834  he  entered  into  public  life  he  advocated  the 
adoption  of  a  new  constitution  for  Tennessee  which  abridged  the 
influence  of  large  land-owners.  He  had  been  an  ardent  follower 
of  John  Bell,  but  when  on  the  formation  of  the  Whig  party  Bell 
turned  against  General  Jackson,  Johnson  remained  a  "regular 
Democrat,"  and  in  1840  he  was  an  elector  for  the  State  at  large 
on  the  Van  Buren  ticket,  and  made  a  great  reputation  for  his  ora- 
tory. Three  years  later  he  became  a  member  of  Congress  and 
was  continuously  re-elected  for  ten  years,  when  the  people  of  Ten- 


230  NORTH  CAROLINA 

nessee  chose  him  to  be  Governor  of  the  State.  In  1855  he  was 
again  elected  Governor,  and  on  the  expiration  of  his  term  was 
elected  United  States  Senator. 

As  his  career  indicates,  he  had  now  become  a  strong  man,  a 
man  of  great  force  and  power — an  adversary  in  debate  to  be  feared 
even  by  the  most  accomplished  of  his  opponents ;  yet  he  never 
wholly  overcame  the  want  of  early  refinement  or  the  deficiencies  of 
his  education.  That  he  was  not  a  man  of  culture  was  often  made 
apparent,  and  it  is  said  that  sometimes  in  the  course  of  heated  ar- 
gument his  thoughts  would  find  expression  in  oratorical  passages 
that  were  doubtless  the  remembrance  or  echo  in  his  mind  of  the 
selections,  contained  in  the  Columbian  Orator,  read  to  him  by 
Dr.  Hill,  and  which  had  found  a  lodgment  in  his  plastic  brain  be- 
fore he  had  learnt  how  to  read. 

So  esteemed  was  he  at  home,  that  at  the  Democratic  national 
convention  held  at  Charleston  in  i860,  the  Tennessee  delegation 
presented  him  as  their  candidate  for  the  presidency. 

Although  Mr.  Johnson  strenuously  favored  all  measures  for  the 
benefit  of  the  working  classes  and  clashed  severely  with  property 
holders  and  especially  with  slave-owners,  yet  he  was  not  at  all 
opposed  to  the  institution  of  slavery,  but  rather  maintained  the 
view  that,  according  to  all  social  and  natural  laws,  there  were 
classes  in  society  and  that  the  proper  position  of  the  negroes  in 
the  Southern  States  was  that  of  bondage  and  subordination  to  the 
whites.  In  the  great  campaign  of  i860  he  was  a  strong  supporter 
of  the  nominee  of  the  Southern  Democrats,  John  C.  Breckenridge, 
but  when  the  secession  movement  began  he  declared  his  unyield- 
ing opposition  to  secession  and  his  resolute  purpose  to  sustain  the 
Union ;  and  when  Tennessee  seceded  he  retained  his  seat  in  the 
United  States  Senate  as  Senator  from  that  State. 

On  March  4,  1862,  President  Lincoln  appointed  him  Military 
Governor  of  Tennessee ;  and  his  influence  in  Tennessee  being  cast 
against  the  South  was  disastrous  to  the  Southern  cause.  He  or- 
ganized twenty-five  Federal  regiments  in  that  State,  promoted 
the  Union  sentiment,  and  held  Congressional  elections  and 
sought  to  maintain  Tennessee  as  a  State  in  the  Federal  Union. 


ANDREW  JOHNSON  231 

He  thus  became  an  important  factor  in  winning  the  final  victory 
for  the  Federal  government.  Indeed  one  hazards  nothing  in  say- 
ing that  he  was  more  effective  in  accomplishing  the  result  of  the 
war  than  any  other  one  person  in  the  United  States. 

At  the  National  Republican  Convention  held  in  Baltimore,  June 
8,  1864,  he  was  nominated  for  Vice-President.  In  his  letter  of 
acceptance,  he  disclaimed  any  departure  from  his  principles  as  a 
Democrat  and  placed  his  acceptance  "on  the  higher  duty  of  sus- 
taining the  Government."  He  was  for  the  Union  and  against 
the  Confederacy,  and  his  actions  were  in  conformity  with  his 
avowed  principles  and  purposes.  In  this  he  differed  widely  from 
those  men  at  the  South  who,  declaring  themselves  favorable  to 
Southern  independence,  still  sought  to  embarrass  the  Confederate 
administration  and  neutralize  its  efforts,  on  the  pretext  of  main- 
taining Constitutional  liberty. 

President  Lincoln  fell  by  the  hand  of  an  assassin  on  April  14, 
1865,  and  the  next  day  Vice-President  Johnson  took  the  oaths  as 
President  of  the  United  States.  He  made  no  changes  in  the  ad- 
ministration, but  retained  all  of  Mr.  Lincoln's  cabinet,  and  sought 
to  conduct  affairs  on  the  same  lines  as  his  predecessor. 

He,  however,  inherited  from  Mr.  Lincoln  a  difference  with  Con- 
gress that  led  to  an  open  rupture.  Mr.  Lincoln's  view  was  that  a 
State  could  not  withdraw  from  the  Union,  and  that  the  Southern 
States  were  still  members  of  the  Union  although  a  large  majority 
of  their  inhabitants  were  in  insurrection  and  rebellion.  On  De- 
cember 8,  1863,  Mr.  Lincoln  made  an  offer  of  amnesty  and  pardon 
to  those  resisting  Federal  authority  who  should  submit,  but  with 
certain  exceptions.  In  his  proclamation  then  issued  he  announced 
that  "whenever  one  tenth  of  the  voters  of  a  seceded  State,  being 
qualified  voters  under  the  laws  of  the  State  before  secession,  and 
excluding  all  others,  shall  re-establish  a  State  government,  the 
State  shall  be  recognized  as  again  in  the  Union;"  but  he  added 
that  it  was  proper  to  state  that  whether  members  sent  to  Congress 
shall  be  admitted  to  seats  rests  exclusively  with  the  respective 
Houses  of  Congress. 

This  claim  of  Mr.  Lincoln  of  his  right  to  recognize  a  loyal  gov- 


232  NORTH  CAROLINA 

ernment  in  a  State,  was  not  agreed  to  by  Congress ;  and  in  July, 

1864,  Congress  passed  a  bill  asserting  the  jurisdiction  of  Con- 
gress, and  providing  that  the  President  should  not  recognize  such 
a  State  government  until  "after  obtaining  the  consent  of  Con- 
gress." Mr.  Lincoln  took  issue  with  Congress  on  that  matter  and 
defeated  that  bill  by  a  pocket  veto,  so  that  it  had  no  effect  what- 
ever. He  subsequently  made  public  his  reasons  for  this  veto, 
which  led  to  an  angry  protest  by  some  of  the  most  violent  Repub- 
licans. But  he  resolutely  adhered  to  his  own  views  and  purposes, 
and  was  endorsed  by  the  people  by  re-election,  and  the  subject  was 
not  broached  again  during  his  lifetime.  His  determination  was 
known  to  be  the  immediate  restoration  of  civil  authority  as  quickly 
as  practicable,  and  in  that  General  Grant  heartily  concurred  with 
him.     So,  when  the  Confederate  armies  were  disbanded  in  April, 

1865,  he  and  his  Cabinet  drew  up  a  proclamation  inaugurating 
steps  for  the  restoration  of  North  Carolina  to  the  Union.  Imme- 
diately after  his  death  the  Secretary  of  War,  Edwin  M.  Stanton, 
presented  this  plan  to  President  Johnson,  and  the  Cabinet  all 
agreed  that  it  should  be  followed. 

A  month  after  the  surrender  of  General  J.  E.  Johnston's  army, 
President  Johnson  invited  Governor  Swain,  Hon.  B.  F.  Moore 
and  Mr.  William  Eaton  to  confer  with  him  on  the  subject  of  re- 
constructing the  government  of  North  Carolina.  He  laid  before 
them  his  plan  to  appoint  a  provisional  governor,  who  should  con- 
vene a  convention  to  be  elected  by  such  voters  of  the  State  as  were 
voters  under  the  laws  and  constitution  existing  before  the  war  as 
would  be  allowed  to  vote  under  his  amnesty  proclamation.  These 
gentlemen  could  not  approve  of  this  plan.  Their  view  was  that 
the  President  had  no  right  to  appoint  a  provisional  governor  for 
the  State,  but  that  the  existing  government  of  the  State  should  be 
allowed  to  restore  the  State  to  the  Union ;  and  that,  since  Governor 
Vance  was  then  in  arrest  and  confined  in  prison,  the  presiding 
officers  of  the  two  Houses  of  the  Legislature  should  convene  the 
Legislature,  and  that  body  should  call  a  convention  to  restore  the 
State  to  the  Union.  Their  view  recognized  the  existing  govern- 
ment of  the  State,  which  the  President  would  not  assent  to.     The 


ANDREW  JOHNSON  233 

difference  between  them  was  irreconcilable,  and  they  withdrew. 
There  were  other  North  Carolinians,  however,  in  attendance  on 
the  President,  and  these  endorsed  the  Presidential  plan  and,  at 
the  request  of  the  President,  recommended  a  person  for  the  ap- 
pointment of  provisional  governor,  and  they  selected  W.  W.  Hol- 
den. 

If  the  only  object  had  been  the  speedy  restoration  of  fraternal 
relations  between  the  people  of  North  Carolina  and  the  people  of 
the  Union,  the  method  proposed  by  Governor  Swain  was  certainly 
the  correct  one ;  but  that  was  not  the  entire  purpose  of  either  the 
President  or  of  the  Congress ;  while  the  choice  of  Mr.  Holden, 
as  the  instrument  in  restoring  the  State,  was  both  unphilosophical 
and  unfortunate. 

The  method  of  reconstructing  the  State  was,  however,  not  Pres- 
ident Johnson's,  but  Mr.  Lincoln's,  adopted  by  him  in  1863,  and 
insisted  on  in  1864,  and  particularly  developed  by  him  and  his 
Cabinet  as  to  North  Carolina  in  1865,  and  merely  carried  into  ef- 
fect by  President  Johnson.  But  President  Johnson  had  not  only 
the  purpose  to  reconstruct  the  State  on  those  lines,  but  the  addi- 
tional purpose,  as  he  formally  and  emphatically  declared,  of  "mak- 
ing treason  odious."  The  State  governments  during  the  Con- 
federate times  were  to  be  utterly  ignored,  and  the  principal  inhabi- 
tants who  had  been  in  insurrection  were  to  be  punished  as  rebels 
and  traitors. 

On  the  29th  of  May,  1865,  the  President  set  on  foot  the  restora- 
tion of  North  Carolina  by  issuing  his  proclamation  and  appoint- 
ing W.  W.  Holden  provisional  governor.  His  proclamation  was, 
word  for  word,  like  that  of  Mr.  Lincoln,  December  8,  1863,  ex- 
cept that  President  Johnson  now  excluded  some  additional  classes 
from  amnesty  and  pardon,  limiting  still  more  narrowly  those  who 
could  participate  in  the  election  of  members  to  the  State  conven- 
tion. Under  his  programme  North  Carolina  was  in  November, 
1865,  reconstructed  as  a  State  in  the  Union.  Similar  proceed- 
ings were  had  a  little  later  in  all  the  seceded  States  except  Texas, 
as  to  which  there  was  more  delay.  These  Southern  States  ratified 
a  proposed  amendment  to  the  constitution  abolishing  slavery, 


234  NORTH  CAROLINA 

which  without  their  vote  would  not  have  been  adopted;  and  in 
April,  1866,  the  President  issued  his  proclamation  to  the  effect 
that  North  Carolina  and  nine  other  States,  therein  specified,  had 
always  been  States  of  the  Union,  and  were  then  States  in  the 
Union ;  and  that  the  insurrection  that  had  existed  in  them  was  at 
an  end.  Representation  had  been  apportioned  to  them  by  Con- 
gress as  States.  They  had  been  divided  into  judicial  districts  as 
States ;  as  States  they  had  participated  in  amending  the  Constitu- 
tion of  the  United  States;  as  States  the  Supreme  Court  had 
allotted  them  to  circuits;  the  Senate  had  confirmed  the  appoint- 
ments of  judges,  district  attorneys  and  marshals  for  every  one  of 
them,  and  the  chief  justice  held  a  circuit  court  in  the  State  of 
North  Carolina. 

The  President  held  and  declared  that  these  States  were  mem- 
bers of  the  Union  and  that  Congress  ought  to  admit  them  to  rep- 
resentation. Still  Congress  did  not  admit  them  to  representa- 
tion. In  regard  to  North  Carolina,  it  should  be  stated  in  passing 
that  at  an  election  for  governor  in  November,  1865,  Jonathan 
Worth  was  chosen  by  the  people  in  preference  to  W.  W.  Holden, 
who  at  once  sought  to  poison  the  mind  of  the  President  in  regard 
to  affairs  in  this  State,  urging  that  his  defeat  was  a  victory  for  the 
Confederates  and  rebels,  and  that  Worth  ought  not  to  be  allowed 
to  execute  the  office  of  governor;  but  that  the  President  should 
intervene  and  re-appoint  him  provisional  governor.  The  Presi- 
dent, however,  was  soon  undeceived  and  recognized  that  the  pro- 
ceedings in  North  Carolina  were  not  in  antagonism  to  the  Union 
nor  to  the  authority  of  the  Federal  government.  At  a  somewhat 
later  date  the  President  himself  made  a  visit  to  North  Carolina  to 
see  the  grave  of  his  father  at  Raleigh  where  some  of  the  citizens 
had  caused  a  monument  to  be  erected ;  and  then  he  visited  the 
State  University  at  Chapel  Hill,  and  he  manifested  a  particular 
interest  in  North  Carolina  and  its  affairs. 

On  December  14,  1865,  Thaddeus  Stevens,  a  leader  of  the  vio- 
lent Republicans  in  Congress,  warned  his  party  that  if  the  Presi- 
dent's plan  of  reconstruction  were  allowed — if  the  late  Confeder- 
ate States  were  admitted  to  representation  on  the  old  basis — these 


ANDREW  JOHNSON  235 

States  together  with  the  Democrats  of  the  North  would  control 
the  country.  He  insisted  that  the  constitution  should  be  amended 
"so  as  to  secure  perpetual  ascendency  to  the  party  of  the  Union." 
To  that  end  he  had  two  plans,  one  to  reduce  the  representation  of 
the  Southern  States  in  Congress;  the  other  to  enfranchise  the 
Blacks  and  disfranchise  the  Whites.  The  latter  course  was  adopt- 
ed; and  in  June,  1866,  there  was  brought  forward  a  plan  of  re- 
construction based  on  negro  suffrage.  The  Northern  mind,  how- 
ever, was  not  then  prepared  for  such  a  measure ;  but  on  that  ques- 
tion the  issue  was  joined  between  the  President  and  the  violent 
Republican  leaders. .  It  emphasized  the  clashing  of  Congress 
with  the  President,  who  had  disagreed  with  Congress  on  the  con- 
tinuation of  the  Freedmen's  Bureau  and  on  the  bill  giving  certain 
civil  rights  to  negroes,  both  of  which  he  had  vetoed,  and  both  of 
which  Congress  had  passed  over  his  veto.  Many  Republicans  sus- 
tained the  President,  who  had  acted  throughout  with  the  approba- 
tion of  Mr.  Lincoln's  cabinet  and  of  Chief  Justice  Chase  and  other 
Justices  of  the  Supreme  Court ;  and  so  the  Thad  Stevens  element 
found  it  necessary  to  wait,  and  to  inaugurate  a  fierce  campaign  to 
solidify  Northern  sentiment.  The  North  quivered  under  the  pas- 
sionate appeals  made  to  inflame  sectional  hatred  and  to  arouse  re- 
lentless animosity.  One  illustration  must  suffice.  Mr.  Shella- 
barger,  a  leading  Republican  of  Ohio  said :  "They  framed  iniquity 
and  universal  murder  into  law.  Their  pirates  burned  your  un- 
armed commerce  upon  every  sea.  They  carved  the  bones  of  your 
dead  heroes  into  ornaments,  and  drank  from  goblets  made  out  of 
their  skulls.  They  poisoned  your  fountains ;  put  mines  under  your 
soldiers'  prisons ;  organized  bands  whose  leaders  were  concealed  in 
your  homes ;  and  commissions  ordered  the  torch  and  yellow  fever 
to  be  carried  to  your  cities  and  to  your  women  and  children.  They 
planned  one  universal  bonfire  of  the  North  from  Lake  Ontario  to 
the  Missouri."  Such  was  the  keynote  of  the  campaign  of  hate  the 
Northern  statesmen  inaugurated.  The  seed  fell  on  fruitful  ground. 
Malice  became  the  ruling  passion  of  the  Northern  people,  and  the 
result  of  the  election  brought  great  comfort  to  Thaddeus  Stevens 
and  his  associates.     But  the  President  remained  firm  in  his  con- 


236  NORTH  CAROLINA 

viction  that  the  governments  in  the  Southern  States,  which  had 
been  recognized  by  the  Executive  Department  and  by  the  Judicial 
Department,  ought  to  be  recognized  by  Congress.  Under  the 
fierce  assaults  of  the  Stevens  faction,  embracing  the  Marats,  Dan- 
tons  and  Robespierres  of  that  period,  three  members  of  the  cabinet 
recanted  and  resigned.     Secretary  Stanton,  however,  remained. 

On  January  7,  1867,  it  being  resolved  to  remove  the  President, 
a  committee  was  raised  to  impeach  him,  but  although  a  close  and 
searching  examination  was  made,  even  of  his  private  actions,  no 
pretext  could  then  be  found  on  which  to  base  proceedings  against 
him.  He  was,  however,  deprived  of  the  command  of  the  army, 
for  fear  that  he  might  use  the  military  power  against  the  enforce- 
ment of  Congressional  measures.  Two  months  later,  despite  his 
veto,  the  statehood  of  the  Southern  States  was  annulled  and  they 
were  remanded  to  military  rule.  Their  laws  and  constitutions  and 
governments  were  set  aside,  and  a  major-general  was  set  over 
them,  his  will  being  the  law.  On  the  same  day  the  tenure  of  office 
act  was  passed.  When  this  act  was  presented  to  the  President  his 
cabinet  advised  him  that  it  was  unconstitutional ;  and  Secretary 
Stanton  gave  an  elaborate  opinion  to  that  eflfect.  It  was,  how- 
ever, passed  by  Congress  over  the  President's  veto.  Under  its 
provisions  the  President  could  not  remove  an  officer  who  had  been 
confirmed  by  the  Senate,  without  its  consent;  but,  when  the  Sen- 
ate was  not  in  session,  he  could  suspend  such  an  officer.  Mr.  Stan- 
ton forfeited  the  confidence  of  the  President,  and  in  August,  1867, 
the  President  informed  him  that  "public  considerations  of  a  high 
character  constrained  him  to  ask  for  his  resignation."  The  reply 
of  the  Secretary  was  that  "public  consideratioiis  of  a  high  char- 
acter constrain  me  not  to  resign  until  Congress  meets."  The 
President  then  suspended  Mr.  Stanton,  and  when  Congress  was 
in  session  on  February  21,  1868,  he  removed  him. 

The  President  stood  in  the  way  of  the  full  execution  of  the  pur- 
poses of  the  Republican  leaders.  In  1866  they  had  failed  to  find 
a  pretext  for  impeachment  proceedings.  Senator  Sumner,  in  his 
opinion  filed  in  the  impeachment  proceedings,  mentions  that  when 
the  tenure  of  office  act  was  passed,  "in  order  to  prepare  the  way 


ANDREW  JOHNSON  237 

for  impeachment,  by  removing  certain  scruples  of  technicality,  its 
violation  was  expressly  declared  to  be  a  high  misdemeanor."  Sec- 
retary Stanton,  a  member  of  the  cabinet,  was  apparently  working 
to  accomplish  the  purpose.  He  prepared  the  way.  On  the  same 
day  that  he  was  removed,  a  resolution  of  impeachment  was  intro- 
duced. When  the  articles  were  presented  to  the  Senate,  the  Presi- 
dent's counsel  asked  for  forty  days  to  prepare  for  the  trial,  but 
were  allowed  only  ten.  The  keynote  of  the  proceeding  is  found  in 
Senator  Sumner's  opinion :  "This  is  the  last  of  the  great  battles 
with  slavery.  Driven  from  these  legislative  chambers,  driven 
from  the  field  of  war,  this  monstrous  power  has  found  a  refuge  in 
the  Executive  Mansion,  where,  in  utter  disregard  of  the  Constitu- 
tion and  laws,  it  seeks  to  exercise  its  ancient,  far-reaching  sway. 
All  this  is  very  plain.  Nobody  can  question  it.  Andrew  Johnson 
is  the  impersonation  of  the  tyrannical  slave  power.  In  him  it  lives 
again.  He  is  the  lineal  successor  of  John  C.  Calhoun  and  Jeffer- 
son Davis;  and  he  gathers  about  him  the  same  supporters."  "It 
is  the  old  troop  of  slavery,  with  a  few  recruits,  ready  as  of  old 
for  violence — cunning  in  device,  and  heartless.  With  the  Presi- 
dent at  their  head,  they  are  now  entrenched  in  the  Executive  Man- 
sion. Not  to  dislodge  them  is  to  leave  the  country  a  prey  to  one 
of  the  most  hateful  tyrannies  of  history;  especially  is  it  to  sur- 
render the  Unionists  of  the  rebel  States  to  violence  and  bloodshed. 
Not  a  month,  not  a  week,  not  a  day  should  be  lost.  The  safety  of 
the  Republic  requires  action  at  once." 

Mr.  Sumner  then  insisted  that  the  impeachment  proceedings 
were  political  and  not  judicial.  He  did  not  propose  to  confine 
himself  to  the  charges  and  specifications  that  had  been  brought 
against  the  President,  but  contended  that  he  should  be  removed, 
whether  or  not.  He  was  charged  particularly  with  removing  Sec- 
retary Stanton  from  office.  Mr.  Sumner  said :  "Here  in  the  Sen- 
ate we  know  officially  how  he  has  made  himself  the  attorney  of 
slavery — the  usurper  of  legislative  power — the  violator  of  law — 
the  patron  of  rebels — the  helping  hand  of  rebellion — the  kicker 
from  office  of  good  citizens — the  open  bunghole  of  the  treasury — 
the  architect  of  the  whiskey  ring — the  stumbling  block  to  all  good 


238  NORTH  CAROLINA 

laws  by  wanton  vetoes  and  then  by  criminal  hindrances ;  all  these 
things  are  known  here  beyond  question.  To  the  apologists  of  the 
President,  who  set  up  the  quibbling  objection  that  they  are  not  al- 
leged in  the  articles  of  impeachment,  I  reply  that,  even  if  excluded 
on  this  account  from  judgment,  they  may  be  treated  as  evidence." 

In  1865  and  early  in  1866  the  Southern  States,  in  conformity 
with  the  President's  plan,  had  abolished  slavery  by  ratifying  the 
13th  amendment  to  the  Constitution.  Two  years  after  slavery 
was  abolished  Senator  Sumner  voiced  what  was  in  the  hearts  of 
his  confreres  and  associates  in  the  above  extracts  from  his  judg- 
ment and  opinion  filed  in  the  impeachment  proceedings.  Only 
one  article  was  voted  on  by  the  Court  of  Impeachment.  It  was 
the  nth  article  relating  to  the  removal  of  Secretary  Stanton. 
Thirty-five  Republicans  voted  for  conviction ;  nineteen  Senators 
voted  not  guilty,  among  whom  were  three  Republicans  who  re- 
fused to  follow  the  lead  of  Stanton,  Stevens  and  Sumner. 

The  President  indeed  had  been  guilty  of  the  offence  of  wishing 
to  restore  the  Union  and  to  establish  peace  and  order  at  the  South 
and  fraternal  feeling  throughout  the  country.  He  had  taken  up 
the  work  of  Reconstruction  and  had  brought  the  Southern  States 
again  into  harmonious  relations  with  the  Federal  government.  But 
be  had  not  trampled  under  foot  the  Constitution  of  the  Union  and 
had  not  imposed  such  conditions  as  would  secure  the  dominancy 
of  the  Republican  party.  That  was  his  crime.  It  was  unpardon- 
able. 

His  contention  was  that  the  Southern  States  had  always  remain- 
ed members  of  the  Union,  and  that  Congress  had  no  right  under 
the  Constitution  to  interfere  with  suffrage  in  any  State;  and  he 
further  contended  that  it  was  unwise  and  inexpedient  to-  invest  the 
negroes  at  the  South  with_  suffrage,  as  they  were  not  prepared  to 
use  the  ballot  with  intelligence  and  discretion.  At  the  North, 
where  they  were  few  in  numbers  and  their  political  influence  was 
unimportant,  they  were  still  generally  denied  the  right  of  vote.  At 
the  South  their  power  would  be  great;  and  untutored  and  ig- 
norant, the  result  of  conferring  suffrage  on  them  could  only  be 
unfortunate.     Some  of  the  more  thoughtful  of  his  adversaries,  in- 


ANDREW  JOHNSON  239 

deed,  admitted  the  force  of  this  reasoning,  and  spoke  of  the  meas- 
ure of  investing  the  negroes  with  the  ballot  as  an  experiment  that 
might,  or  might  not,  prove  judicious. 

As  it  was,  President  Johnson  made  a  great  effort  against  the 
purpose  of  Congress,  but  without  avail.  Thaddeus  Stevens,  who 
boldly  declared  that  all  these  proceedings  in  which  he  was  the  lead- 
er were  extra-Constitutional,  dying  in  August,  1868,  lived  only  to 
see  the  inauguration  of  negro  suffrage  at  the  South  and  the  ascend- 
ency of  his  party  in  the  Southern  States  through  the  aid  of  the 
negroes.  Senator  Sumner,  living  until  1874,  saw  the  system  he  and 
his  associates  had  erected  tottering  to  its  fall,  but  he  died  in 
March,  1874,  just  before  the  North  itself,  in  the  Congressional 
election  of  that  year,  largely  repudiated  the  doctrines  he  had  so 
violently  advocated. 

While  President  Johnson's  course  after  the  war  threw  him  in 
opposition  to  the  leaders  of  the  Republican  Party  his  efforts  to 
maintain  the  Union  during  the  war,  and  his  avowed  purpose  to 
mak-e  treason  odious,  and  his  want  of  sympathy  with  the  better 
classes  at  the  South,  prevented  him  from  having  the  regard  of  the 
Southern  people;  although  naturally  they  rejoiced  that  the  pur- 
pose of  the  Republican  leaders  to  remove  him  from  the  Presidency 
was  defeated  by  his  acquittal. 

On  the  expiration  of  his  term  in  March,  1869,  he  returned  to 
Tennessee,  and  at  various  times  sought  office  at  the  hands  of  the 
people,  without  avail,  until  in  January,  1875,  he  was  elected  to  the 
United  States  Senate  as  a  Democrat;  but  six  months  later,  July 
30,  1S75,  he  was  stricken  with  paralysis  and  died  the  following 
day. 

Viewed  from  the  standpoint  of  a  Union  citizen,  he  rendered  the 
United  States  services  during  the  war  for  the  Union  that  were  of 
incalculable  advantage.  Had  it  not  been  for  his  action  and  his 
influence  in  Tennessee,  and  had  Tennessee  been  as  firm  as  North 
Carolina  for  the  South,  the  contest  indeed  might  have  ended  differ- 
ently. Not  a  polished  orator,  he  was  a  man  of  massive  powers, — 
virile,  resolute  and  never  dismayed.  He  stood  manfully  for  the 
right,  as  he  conceived  it  to  be,  but  was  unable  to  thwart  those  who 


240 


NORTH  CAROLINA 


deemed  negro  suffrage  necessary  to  perpetuate  the  power  of  the 
RepubHcan  Party.  A  single  decade  however  sufficed  to  destroy 
the  Africanized  governments  set  up  at  the  South  by  his  adversa- 
ries, and  the  passage  of  time  justifies  his  resolute  action  and  the 
wisdom  of  his  judgment. 

S.  A.  Ashe. 


SAMUEL   JOHNSTON 

HEN  Governor  Gabriel  Johnston  came  as  Gover- 
nor of  North  Carolina,  he  was  soon  followed  by 
a  brother,  who  later  became  the  surveyor- 
general  of  the  province.  This  gentleman  mar- 
ried Helen  Scrymoure,  and  their  eldest  child  is 
the  subject  of  this  sketch.  Samuel  Johnston 
was  born  at  Dundee,  Scotland,  December  15,  1733.  He  was  not 
three  years  of  age  when  his  parents  removed  to  North  Carolina. 
His  father  located  in  Onslow  Precinct  where  he  had  large  inter- 
ests, the  county  seat  being  called  Johnstonville  in  his  honor.  On 
his  death  Mr.  Edward  Starkey  became  guardian  of  the  orphan 
children,  and  the  subject  of  this  sketch  ever  cherished  the  most 
friendly  feelings  for  him.  Young  Johnston  was  educated  in  New 
England,  and  then  read  law  under  Mr.  Thomas  Barker,  who  re- 
sided in  Chowan.  He  acted  as  clerk  of  the  Superior  Court  of 
Chowan  from  1767  until  the  courts  ceased  in  1773;  and  he  was 
the  deputy  naval  officer  for  the  province  till  the  opening  of  the 
Revolution,  having  purchased  that  office  from  the  appointee  of  the 
Crown  who  remained  in  England. 

In  1765  Mr.  Johnston  purchased  a  plantation  in  Chowan  County 
called  Hayes,  and  that  became  his  place  of  residence.  Here  he 
surrounded  himself  with  every  comfort  and  many  of  the  elegancies 
of  life,  and  made  a  residence  that  had  no  superior  in  the  province. 
He  married  Miss  Frances  Cathcart,  a  daughter  of  Dr.  Cathcart, 


242  NORTH  CAROLINA 

and  was  surrounded  by  an  interesting  family.  His  sister  Isaliella 
was  engaged  to  be  married  to  Joseph  Hewes,  but  died  suddenly ; 
and  Mr.  Hewes  ever  afterwards  was  an  intimate  friend  of  Mr. 
Johnston.  Another  sister,  Hannah,  married  James  Iredell,  who 
had  the  greatest  veneration  for  his  distinguished  brother-in-law. 
His  brother  John  was  like  himself  a  sterling  patriot  and  man  of 
affairs.  In  the  same  community  were  John  Harvey,  Thomas 
Jones,  Charles  Johnson,  Colonel  John  Dawson,  who  married  a 
daughter  of  Governor  Gabriel  Johnston,  Edward  Buncombe,  Ste- 
phen Cabarrus,  and  other  gentlemen  of  the  first  water.  It  was  in 
this  society  that  Mr.  Johnston  passed  the  years  of  his  early  man- 
hood, and  entered  on  the  activities  of  life.  For  ability,  learning, 
wealth  and  character,  he  was  among  the  foremost  of  the  gentlemen 
of  the  province.  During  the  period  of  his  career  there  were  sev- 
eral very  great  men  in  North  Carolina,  and  a  considerable  num- 
ber who  united  shining  talents  with  patriotism  and  character ;  and 
still  others  not  so  richly  endowed  with  natural  gifts  who  yet  were 
practical  men  of  affairs,  and  attained  great  prominence  because  of 
their  usefulness  and  adroit  political  management.  In  general  ex- 
cellence Mr.  Johnston  surpassed  them  all.  He  stood  as  a  great 
pyramid  securely  erected  on  a  solid  granite  base.  "He  bore  the 
greatest  weight  of  care  and  labor  lightly  as  a  mountain  supports 
its  crown.  His  powerful  frame  was  a  fit  engine  for  the  vigorous 
intellect  that  gave  it  animation.  Strength  was  his  characteristic. 
In  his  relations  to  the  public,  an  inflexible  sense  of  duty  and  jus- 
tice dominated.  There  was  a  remarkable  degree  of  self-reliance 
and  majesty  about  the  man.  He  commanded  the  respect  and  ad- 
miration, but  not  the  love,  of  the  masses  of  the  people."  He  was 
lofty  and  unbending  in  his  attitude,  but  the  soul  of  honor,  and 
never  departed  from  the  dictates  of  his  reason.  As  an  illustra- 
tion of  the  respect  with  which  he  was  regarded,  the  testimony  of 
Governor  Martin,  when  a  fugitive  on  board  his  shipping,  may  be 
quoted.  In  October  177S,  after  Johnston  had  called  together  the 
Congress  as  moderator  and  had  accepted  from  it  the  position  of 
treasurer  of  the  Northern  District  as  a  Revolutionary  office,  Gov- 
ernor Martin  in  notifying  him  of  his  suspension  as  the  naval  offi- 


SAMUEL  JOHNSTON  243 

cer  of  the  province,  adverts  to  "the  respect  I  have  entertained  for 
your  private  character ;"  and  in  communicating  to  the  Crown  the 
establishment  of  a  Revolutionary  government  under  the  Provin- 
cial Council  of  Thirteen,  he  speaks  very  disparagingly  of  the  other 
members,  but  says :  "Mr.  Samuel  Ashe  and  Mr.  Samuel  Johnston 
have  the  reputation  of  being  men  of  integrity." 

As  early  as  1760  Mr.  Johnston  was  a  member  of  the  Assembly 
from  Chowan  County,  and  naturally  took  a  prominent  part  in  the 
proceedings  of  the  Assembly.  During  the  Stamp  Act  times,  he 
was  a  thorough  patriot,  although  there  was  no  occasion  for  any 
popular  demonstration  in  the  Albemarle  section.- 

When  the  Regulation  troubles  came  on,  like  Harvey,  Caswell 
and  all  the  other  men  of  prominence  in  the  Eastern  Counties,  he 
supported  law  and  order  as  against  the  anarchy  threatened  by  the 
spread  of  the  Regulation  movement.  In  1770  when  the  Regula- 
tors broke  up  the  court  at  Hillsboro,  and  by  their  riots  brought  on 
a  crisis,  the  Assembly,  led  by  Johnston  and  others,  enacted  on  the 
one  hand  very  sweeping  remedial  legislation,  such  as  laws  to  regu- 
late attorneys'  fees,  to  regulate  officers'  fees ;  to  direct  sheriiifs  in 
levying  executions,  to  authorize  the  Inferior  Courts  to  establish 
tobacco  warehouses  wherever  needed ;  to  prevent  the  collection  of 
the  sinking  fund  tax,  and  other  measures  calculated  to  remove 
every  cause  of  discontent.  On  the  other  hand  Mr.  Johnston  and 
his  associates  proposed  to  put  a  stop,  by  law,  to  riots  and  disorder, 
and  he  drew  and  introduced  the  bill  which  has  been  called  the 
"Bloody  Act."  This  Act  among  other  things  provided  that  upon 
indictment  found  against  any  person  for  any  of  the  crimes  de- 
scribed in  the  Act,  the  judges  of  the  court  shall  issue  their  procla- 
mation, commanding  such  offender  to  surrender  within  sixty  days 
and  stand  trial ;  on  failure  of  which  he  should  be  deemed  guilty  of 
of  the  offence  charged,  and  "it  shall  be  lawful  for  anyone  to  kill 
and  destroy  such  offender,  and  his  lands  and  chattels  shall  be  con- 
fiscated to  the  King  for  the  use  of  Government."  This  clause  the 
law  officers  in  England  said  "was  irreconcilable  with  the  princi- 
ples of  the  Constitution,  full  of  danger  in  its  operation  and  unfit 
for  any  .part  of  the  British  Empire."     But  as  it  was  by  its  own 


244  NORTH  CAROLINA 

limitations  upon  the  point  of  expiring,  and  the  total  repeal  of  it 
might  have  very  fatal  consequences,  the  Act  was  not  disallowed, 
but  the  Governor  was  advised  not  to  assent  to  any  new  law  for 
preventing  tumults  and  riotous  assemblies,  unless  it  should  be  en- 
tirely free  from  the  objections  stated. 

The  condition  of  affairs  in  the  province  required  a  strong  hand 
and  a  severe  law  to  maintain  government  and  repress  anarchy. 
While  this  Act  passed  the  General  Assembly,  its  severity  was  rec- 
ognized even  by  those  who  enacted  it.  As  a  repressive  measure, 
however,  it  had  its  effect,  so  that  after  the  battle  of  Alamance  the 
Regulation  troubles  entirely  ceased.  Some  writers  speak  of  Ala- 
mance as  the  first  battle  of  the  American  Revolution.  It  had  no 
connection  with  the  American  Revolution.  The  Regulators  were 
not  demanding  their  rights  and  liberties  as  against  the  measures 
of  parliament,  but  were  resisting  the  laws  of  the  province.  That 
they  had  grievances  is  evident,  but  those  grievances  were  not  at 
all  akin  to  the  British  exactions  which  led  to  the  Revolution.  John- 
ston and  his  associates,  who  had  ever  been  devoted  and  zealous  in 
their  adherence  to  the  rights  of  the  Colonies,  were  not  inconsist- 
ent in  maintaining  law  and  order  and  government  in  1771,  and  in 
taking  up  arms  in  1775. 

At  the  first  session  of  the  Assembly  after  the  return  of  the  army 
from  Alamance,  the  Assembly,  to  relieve  the  burdens  of  the  peo- 
ple, proposed  to  repeal  the  tax  of  one  shilling  on  the  poll  imposed 
many  years  before  to  provide  a  sinking  fund.  The  Assembly 
claimed  that  the  object  of  that  tax  had  been  accomplished.  On 
the  other  hand  the  Governor  denied  this  statement  and  denounced 
the  proposed  appeal  as  .a  fraud.  Johnston  drew  and  introduced 
the  bill ;  and  he  gave  the  weight  of  his  influence  to  this  measure 
of  relief.  The  issue  was  sharp.  It  was  feared  that  the  Governor 
would  dissolve  the  Assembly,  and  in  anticipation  of  such  action,  a 
resolution  was  adopted  directed  the  sheriffs  not  to  collect  this  tax. 
The  Governor,  acting  speedily,  however,  dissolved  the  Assembly 
before  the  resolution  could  be  spread  on  the  minutes.  Still  Cas- 
well, the  Speaker,  communicated  the  resolve  to  the  treasurers ; 
and  John  Ashe,  the  treasurer  of  the  Southern  District,  did  not 


SAMUEL  JOHNSTON  245 

require  the  sheriffs  to  collect  it;  although  the  Governor  by  his 
proclamation  especially  commanded  them  to  do  so.  In  the  con- 
tests of  that  session  Johnston  was  the  leading  figure,  antagonizing 
the  Governor  at  every  point;  and  yet  a  few  months  later  we  find 
the  Governor  writing  to  him  and  asking  free  communication,  "as 
I  entertain  such  respect  and  esteem  for  your  person  and  charac- 
ter." 

At  the  next  session,  January,  1773,  the  Court  Law  was  the-chief 
cause  of  difference.  The  Court  Act  of  1771  was  about  to  expire, 
and  the  King,  at  the  solicitation  of  British  merchants,  had  directed 
that  in  the  new  law  there  should  be  no  attachment  allowed  against 
the  property  of  non-resident  debtors.  The  Assembly  insisted  on 
providing  for  such  attachments,  notwithstanding  the  King's  in- 
struction. Sam  Johnston  introduced  the  Bill.  The  Assembly 
passed  it.  The  Governor  would  not  assent  to  it  and  dissolved 
the  Assembly.  The  Court  Law  expired  by  its  own  limitation,  and 
there  were  no  Superior  or  General  Courts  held  in  the  province. 
A  third  Assembly  was  now  elected,  and  it  met  in  December,  1773. 
Harvey  was  Speaker.  Immediately  on  meeting,  it  appointed  a 
committee  to  correspond  with  the  other  Colonies  on  matters  re- 
lating to  America  which  now  assumed  renewed  importance. 

It  also  passed  a  Court  Bill,  but  without  avail.  On  December 
2 1st  it  petitioned  the  King  to  repeal  his  instructions  and  appointed 
a  committee,  composed  of  Speaker  Harvey,  Sam  Johnston,  John 
Ashe,  and  others,  to  ask  Tryon,  "who  happily  for  this  country,  for 
many  years  presided  over  it,"  to  carry  this  address  to  the  King. 
Thereupon  the  Governor  much  mortified  and  offended,  prorogued 
the  Assembly  till  March.  When  the  House  met  March,  1774,  it 
adopted  a  resolution  directing  the  sheriffs  not  to  collect  the  one 
shilling  poll  tax,  and  the  Governor  prorogued  it  till  May.  In  all 
these  proceedings  Johnston  had  been  among  the  foremost.  Con- 
tinental affairs  were  now  claiming  attention.  Colonel  Harvey  re- 
ceived information  that  the  Governor  did  not  intend  to  convene 
another  Assembly,  and  forthwith  he  conferred  with  Willie  Jones, 
Sam  Johnston  and  Colonel  Buncombe,  and  declared  that  he  would 
issue  handbills  and  the  people  would  convene  an  Assembly.     The 


246  NORTH  CAROLINA 

day  following  this  conference  Johnston  wrote  to  Mr.  Hooper  and 
asked  his  advice,  and  asked  him  to  speak  of  it  to  Mr.  Harnett  and 
Colonel  Ashe,  and  other  such  men.  Johnston  was  fully  abreast 
of  the  foremost  in  his  purpose  to  take  determined  action  for  the 
rights  of  the  people.  Hooper  and  Mr.  Iredell,  who  looked  up  to 
Johnston  with  veneration,  had  prophetic  visions  of  America  fast 
striding  to  independence,  and  Johnston  doubtless  was  entirely 
aware  of  their  thoughts  on  that  great  subject. 

At  length  in  July  news  was  received  at  Wilmington  that  the 
port  of  Boston  had  been  closed  by  Act  of  Parliament.  The  in- 
habitants of  the  district  met  in  general  meeting,  William  Hooper 
presiding,  and  appointed  a  committee  of  which  Colonel  James 
Moore  was  the  head  to  address  the  people  and  urge  them  to  elect 
delegates  to  represent  them  in  a  general  meeting.  This  was  the 
first  appeal  to  the  sovereignity  of  the  people.  The  call  was  made 
by  James  Moore  and  three  of  his  associates,  and  it  was  favorably 
received  throughout  the  Colony.  The  deputies  were  elected,  John- 
ston and  Harvey  being  members  of  the  body.  After  appointing 
delegates  to  the  Continental  Congress,  it  clothed  Harvey,  and  in 
case  of  his  inability  Johnston,  with  the  power  to  call  a  new  Con- 
gress. 

At  that  time  Johnston  was  one  of  the  chief  leaders.  On  Sep- 
tember 1st,  1774,  Governor  Martin  wrote  to  his  superiors  in  Lon- 
don : 


"That  the  seven  counties  of  the  Northern  District  are  now  under  the 
absolute  guidance  of  a  Mr.  Johnston,  who  is  deputy  naval  officer  and 
was  one  of  the  clerks  of  the  Superior  Courts  while  they  existed  in  this 
province,  but  who  under  the  prejudices  of  a  New  England  education,  as 
I  suppose,  is  by  no  means  the  friend  of  government  he  ought  to  be, 
having  taken  a  foremost  part  in  all  the  late  oppositions,  in  which  it  is 
probable,  if  not  certain,  he  has  been  influenced  also  by  his  aims  to  the 
treasuryship.  for  which  he  was  a  candidate  at  the  last  appointment  with- 
out success." 

Events  were  now  proceeding  with  no  measured  steps.  A  new 
Assembly  had  been  elected,  and  Colonel  Harvey  called  for  a  new 


SAMUEL  JOHNSTON  247 

Congress.  The  latter  met  at  New-Bern  on  April  4th;  the  As- 
sembly the  next  day.  The  representatives  of  the  people  were 
nearly  identical  in  both,  and  the  delegates  to  the  Congress  were 
invited  to  seats  in  the  Assembly.  The  Governor's  Council  had 
measurably  deserted  him  when  the  first  Congress  met  and  had 
affiliated  with  the  representatives  of  the  people;  and  because  of 
the  resolute  answer  made  to  the  Governor's  opening  address,  pre- 
pared by  Johnston  and  others,  without  the  transaction  of  any  busi- 
ness the  Governor  dissolved  the  Assembly  on  the  third  day  of 
the  session,  while  the  Congress  continued  its  business  as  represen- 
tatives of  the  people.  Seeing  that  the  inhabitants  of  the  Colony 
were  falling  away  from  the  Government,  Governor  Martin  sought 
to  enlist  the  Regulators  and  Highlanders  in  his  support,  and  esti- 
mated that  1400  of  them  were  on  his  side. 

On  May  6th  news  of  the  battle  of  Lexington  was  received  at 
New-Bern,  and  a  great  impulse  was  given  to  patriotic  action. 
Early  in  March  the  people  on  the  Cape  Fear  had  formed  military 
companies,  and  now  an  independent  company  was  raised  at  New- 
Bern,  to  the  consternation  of  Governor  Martin.  Indeed  Mr. 
Hewes,  a  delegate  to  the  Continental  Congress,  who  reached  Phila- 
delphia on  the  9th  day  of  May,  two  days  later  wrote  to  Johnston 
urging  the  people  to  arm.  "I  tremble,"  said  he,  "for  North  Caro- 
lina. Every  county  ought  to  have  at  least  one  company  armed 
and  exercised.  Pray  encourage  it.  Speak  to  the  people.  Write 
to  them.  Urge  strongly  the  necessity  of  it."  At  that  time  Colonel 
Harvey  was  ill,  and  about  May  25th  he  passed  away,  leaving 
Johnston  the  great  central  figure  of  the  Revolution  in  North  Caro- 
lina. The  action  of  Abner  Nash  and  his  associates  at  New-Bern 
was  so  resolute  that  Governor  Martin,  like  Dunmore  of  Virginia, 
fled  from  his  palace  for  personal  safety,  reaching  Fort  Johnston 
on  June  2d ;  and  indeed  it  was  time.  On  May  20th  the  Wilming- 
ton committee  had  invited  the  committees  of  that  district  to  meet 
at  Wilmington  on  June  20th  for  some  determined  action.  Similar 
proceedings  were  in  progress  in  every  county.  But  none  equalled 
the  action  of  Mecklenburg.  There  on  the  31st  of  May  the  com- 
mittee declared  all  commissions  void,  directed  the  nine  companies 


248  NORTH  CAROLINA 

of  the  county  to  elect  officers,  and  each  company  to  elect  two  se- 
lect men  to  act  as  magistrates,  who  should  form  a  County  Court, 
and  required  all  taxes  and  public  dues  to  be  paid  to  the  chairman 
of  the  committee ;  thus  establishing  a  free  government,  independ- 
ent of  the  Crown.  This  was  more  than  a  declaration  of  independ- 
ence. It  was  independence  itself.  These  resolves,  so  far  in  ad- 
vance of  any  action  taken  at  that  time  elsewhere  in  America,  were 
printed  in  the  North  Carolina  Gazette  of  New-Bern  on  June  i6, 
1775 ;  and  Richard  Cogdell,  the  chairman  of  the  committee  of 
safety,  dispatched  them  to  Sam.  Johnston,  who  a  few  days  later, 
writing  to  Hewes  at  Philadelphia,  said  : 

"Tom  Polk,  too,  is  raising  a  very  pretty  spirit  in  the  back  country 
(see  the  newspapers).  He  has  gone  a  little  farther  than  I  would  choose 
to  have  gone,  but  perhaps  no  further  than  necessary." 

The  spirit  of  independence  was  indeed  born. 

In  July  Ashe  burned  Fort  Johnston  and  drove  the  Royal  Gover- 
nor, Martin,  from  the  soil  of  North  Carolina;  and  on  the  21st  of 
July  Johnston  called  for  an  election  of  deputies  to  attend  the  Third 
Provincial  Congress.  By  that  body,  which  met  at  Hillsboro  on 
Monday,  August  21st,  he  was  chosen' moderator,  and  preparations 
were  made  by  it  for  war.  Two  Continental  regiments  were  raised, 
and  six  battalions  of  minute  men ;  and  the  militia  of  each  county 
was  organized.  Johnston  was  appointed  chairman  of  a  commis- 
sion to  issue  $125,000.00  in  paper  money,  and  he  was  elected 
treasurer  of  the  Northern  District.  It  was  the  end  of  the  provin- 
cial system  of  government.  Old  things  had  passed  away.  The 
sovereignty  of  the  people  succeeded  to  the  power  of  the  Crown. 
In  each  county  there  was  a  committee  of  safety ;  and  one  for  each 
district,  and  a  Provincial  Council  of  thirteen  members,  with  full 
powers  of  government ;  and  of  this  council  Johnston  was  an  im- 
portant member.  Shortly  after  the  adjournment  of  the  first  session 
of  the  council,  at  the  end  of  October,  1775.  Johnston  visited  Bos- 
ton, but  was  again  at  his  post  of  duty  in  December,  and  was 
charged  as  one  of  the  commissioners  to  fit  out  an  armed  vessel  at 


SAMUEL  JOHNSTON  249 

Edenton.  Knowing  that  Governor  Martin  was  forming  plans  to 
subjugate  the  province,  at  that  session  the  council  gave  directions 
for  defence.  On  the  Sth  of  February,  Donald  McDon- 
ald called  on  the  Loyalists  of  the  interior  to  repair  to  the  royal 
banner  at  Campelton.  On  the  loth  the  committee  of  safety  or- 
dered Caswell  to  march  his  minute  men  to  the  Cape  Fear,  and 
similar  orders  were  given  to  Thackston  at  Hillsboro,  while 
Moore  and  Lillington  were  active  near  Wilmington.  Harnett 
called  the  council  to  meet  at  New-Bern  on  the  27th  of  February, 
but  happily  the  victory  at  Moore's  Creek,  on  that  very  day,  se- 
cured safety  from  the  impending  danger.  Still  Johnston  was  sent 
as  one  of  a  Committee  to  confer  with  the  Council  of  Virginia  and 
arrange  for  operations.  The  movement  of  the  Tories,  the  clash 
of  arms,  the  complete  victory,  had  a  tremendous  effect  in  North 
Carolina.  On  April  4,  1775,  the  4th  Provincial  Congress  met. 
On  the  next  day  Johnston,  writing  to  Iredell,  said  :  "All  our  people 
here  are  up  for  Independence."  He  himself  was  a  leader  in  the 
movement.  The  embodiment  of  that  spirit,  he  was  unanimously 
elected  president  of  the  Congress;  and  he  was  also  appointed 
chairman  of  the  Committee  of  Secrgcy,  Intelligence  and  Observa- 
tion. On  the  I2th  of  April  a  select  committee,  of  which  Harnett 
was  chairman,  made  its  report  declaring  for  independence,  which 
was  unanimously  adopted  by  the  Congress.  It  was  the  first  expres- 
sion of  a  purpose  to  separate  from  Great  Britain  uttered  by  any 
province.  Proposing  independence,  the  members  considered  a 
Constitution  establishing  a  form  of  Government.     Johnston  wrote : 

"Our  prospects  at  this  time  are  very  gloomy.  Our  people  are  about 
forming  a  Constitution.  From  what  I  can  at  present  collect  of  their 
plan,  it  will  be  impossible  for  me  to  take  any  part  in  the  execution  of 
it.  Numbers  have  started  in  the  race  of  popularity,  and  condescend  to 
the  usual  means  of  success.'' 

It  appears  that  the  Congress  had  a  printed  copy  of  the  South 
Carolina  Constitution  and  also  a  copy  of  that  of  Connecticut.  It 
was  proposed  to  build  on  the  latter.  Johnston's  view  was  that  the 
only  check  on  the  power  of  the  representatives  of  the  people  was 


2SO  NORTH  CAROLINA 

to  be  found  in  annual  elections,  and  he  differed  with  other  leaders 
in  regard  to  the  election  of  magistrates  by  the  people  and  other  pro- 
visions making  the  judiciary  dependent  on  the  changing  mood  of 
the  populace.  Eventually  the  adoption  of  a  Constitution  was  post- 
poned ;  and  the  Provincial  Council  was  replaced  by  a  committee  of 
safety  of  which  Willie  Jones  became  the  president.  On  August 
9th  the  council  of  safety  adopted  a  resolution : 

"That  since  the  General  Congress  has  declared  that  the  Colonies  are 
free  and  independent  States,  it  be  recommended  to  the  people  to  pay  the 
greatest  attention  to  the  election  of  delegates   to   form  a   Constitution." 

This  was  thought  to  be  especially  aimed  at  Mr.  Johnston.  Therq 
was  a  bitter  warfare  made  against  him  in  Chowan,  during  the 
course  of  which  his  opponents  proceeded  to  such  extreme  lengths 
that  he  was  burned  in  effigy  by  the  people  who  had  theretofore  ad- 
mired and  loved  him.  By  such  means  he  was  defeated ;  but  he 
took  his  defeat  philosophically.  Doubtless  it  was  exasperating; 
but  his  greatness  of  soul  lifted  him  above  the  prejudices  of  the 
contest. 

His  business  as  treasurer  took  him  to  Halifax  in  attendance  on 
the  Congress.  Arriving  there  on  the  7th  of  December,  after  the 
Constitution  had  been  put  in  some  shape,  he  wrote  to  Iredell : 

"As  well  as  I  can  judge  from  a  cursory  view  of  it,  it  may  do  as  well 
as  that  adopted  by  any  other  Colony.  Nothing  of  the  kind  can  be  good. 
There  is  one  thing  in  it  I  cannot  bear,  and  yet.  I  am  inclined  to  think  it 
will  stand.  The  inhabitants  are  empowered  to  elect  the  justices  in  their 
respective  counties  who  are  to  be  the  judges  of  the  County  Courts. 
Numberless   inconveniences   must   arise   from   so   absurd   an   institution." 

"They  talk,"  said  he,  "of  having  all  the  officers,  even  the  judges 
and  clerks,  elected  annually,  with  a  number  of  other  absurdities ;" 
and  he  characterized  the  majority  of  the  Congress  "as  a  set  of 
men  without  reading,  experience  or  principles  to  govern  them." 
More  reasonable  counsels  prevailed.  The  instrument  appears  to 
have  been  put  in  better  shape  by  the  Congress  itself.     Stability 


SAMUEL  JOHNSTON  251 

and  independence  were  secured  to  the  judiciary,  and  a  represen- 
tative Republic  was  established,  with  the  safeguard  that  Johnston 
himself  had  prescribed  of  annual  elections  of  the  representatives. 
In  the  outcome  it  would  seem  that  Johnston's  views  were  adopted 
rather  than  those  of  Willie  Jones  and  Tom  Person. 

At  the  first  session  of  the  Assembly  Johnston  was  again  elected 
treasurer  of  the  Northern  District ;  but  after  holding  it  some  time 
he  resigned,  saying,  "In  the  infancy  of  our  glorious  struggle, 
when  the  minds  of  many  were  unsettled  and  doubtful  of  the  event, 
I  joyfully  accepted  every  appointment,  etc.  At  this  period,  when 
the  Constitution  of  this  State  is  happily  and  permanently  estab- 
lished, etc.,  I  request  the  favor  of  being  permitted  to  decline." 

He  took  his  seat  in  the  Senate  at  the  session  of  May,  1779,  and, 
being  fully  reestablished  in  the  veneration  of  the  public,  was  elect- 
ed to  represent  the  State  in  the  Continental  Congress,  where  he 
served  from  1780  to  1782.  The  war  period  then  being  over,  he 
addressed  himself  for  five  years  to  his  personal  affairs ;  but  in  1787 
he  was  elected  Governor  of  the  State  and  served  as  such  for  two 
years.  In  1788  he  was  a  member  of  the  convention  that  against 
his  protests  rejected  the  United  States  Constitution;  and  he  was 
president  of  the  convention  the  next  year  that  ratified  that  instru- 
ment. While  still  Governor  he  was  chosen  the  first  Senator  to 
represent  the  State  in  the  Congress  of  the  United  States.  In  that 
body  he  stood  primus  inter  pares.  No  one  was  more  highly  re- 
spected by  his  fellow-senators.  In  February,  1800,  he  was  appoint- 
ed a  judge,  but  after  three  years  on  the  bench  he  returned  again 
to  private  life,  and  passed  his  remaining  years,  until  his  death  in 
1816,  in  the  enjoyment  of  his  well-earned  retirement.  At  Hayes 
he  surrounded  himself  with  paintings,  statuary  and  treasured  vol- 
umes. His  correspondence  has  been  preserved ;  and  the  contents 
of  his  library  are  to-day  the  rarest  treasures  of  the  State.  In- 
deed it  is  thought  they  are  unequalled  in  interest  by  any  private  col- 
lection at  the  South.  His. last  surviving  descendant  was  Mr. 
James  C.  Johnston,  a  gentleman  famed  for  his  attainments  and 
culture  and  great  wealth,  who  left  no  issue. 

S.  A.  Ashe. 


ALLEN   JONES 


'  WO  noted  brothers  who  wielded  a  powerful  influ- 
ence in  shaping  the  course  of  North  Carolina 
through  the  troublous  times  of  our  Revolution- 
ary struggle  for  independence  (though  widely 
different  in  politics  after  the  war)  were  the 
Honorable  Willie  Jones  of  the  county  of  Hali- 
fax, and  General  Allen  Jones  of  the  county  of  Northampton.  It 
is  of  the  latter  that  the  present  sketch  will  treat.  For  an  account 
of  this  Jones  family  in  general,  the  reader  is  referred  to  the  gen- 
ealogy compiled  by  Colonel  Cadwallader  Jones  and  published  at 
Columbia,  South  Carolina,  in  1900. 

Allen  Jones  was  born  on  the  24th  of  December,  1739,  and  re- 
ceived his  education  at  Eton,  the  noted  English  college.  There 
were  at  that  time  in  England  many  friends  of  the  young  student's 
father,  who  was  Robert  Jones,  Jr.,  commonly  called  Robin  Jones, 
then  holding  ofiflce  under  the  Crown  as  attorney-general  of  the 
province  of  North  Carolina.  , 

The  country  seat  of  Allen  Jones  in  Northampton  County  was 
called  Mt.  Gallant.  Across  the  Roanoke  in  Halifax  was  the  Grove, 
the  home  of  his  brother  Willie  (pronounced  Wiley),  but  Willie 
Jones  himself  seems  also  to  have  been  a  resident  of  Northampton 
at  one  time;  for,  on  a  list  of  county  court  clerks  made  out  in  1772, 
his  name  appears  as  clerk  of  the  court  of  that  county. 

Though  Allen  Jones  had  seen  some  service  as  a  member  of  the 


ALLEN  JONES  253 


Colonial  Assembly  before  the  Revolution,  he  gained  his  greatest 
distinction  during  that  war.  Prior  to  the  4th  of  July,  1776,  four 
North  Carolina  Provincial  Congresses  met  in  defiance  of  British 
authority,  one  also  meeting  a  few  months  after  independence  had 
been  declared,  and  in  all  five  of  these  bodies  Allen  Jones  sat  as  a 
delegate  from  Northampton  County,  also  filling  other  positions — 
military  as  well  as  civil. 

It  was  on  the  25th  of  August,  1774,  that  delegates  elected  by  the 
freeman  of  North  Carolina  met  at  New-Bern,  much  to  the  horror 
of  His  Excellency,  Josiah  Martin,  last  of  the  Royal  Governors. 
One  of  these  delegates  was  Allen  Jones,  who  was  also  promptly  on 
hand  in  the  same  capacity  when  another  congress  or  convention 
met  in  the  same  town  on  April  3,  1775.  When  the  third  Con- 
gress met,  August  20,  1775,  at  Hillsboro,  hostilities  had  com- 
menced and  it  became  necessary  to  place  the  State  in  a  posture  of 
defence.  On  the  9th  of  September,  during  the  session  last  men- 
tioned, Allen  Jones  was  elected  colonel  of  North  Carolina  militia 
for  the  county  of  Northampton ;  and  he  was  also  elected  a  member 
of  the  committee  of  safety  for  the  Halifax  district  on  the  same 
day.  By  the  time  the  next  Provincial  Congress  met  (Halifax, 
April  4,  1776)  a  great  military  victory  had  been  won  by  the  North 
Carolinians  at  Moore's  Creek  Bridge,  February  27th,  and  the  Con- 
gress at  Halifax  appointed  a  committee  to  take  into  consideration 
what  disposition  should  be  made  of  the  prisoners  there  captured  ; 
also  what  should  be  done  relative  to  other  persons  disaffected  to- 
ward the  Whig  Government.  Of  this  committee  (which  pursued 
its  investigations  for  some  days)  Allen  Jones  was  chairman.  On 
April  22,  1776,  Colonel  Jones  was  promoted  to  the  rank  of  briga- 
dier-general and  placed  in  command  of  the  Halifax  district. 

Another  Provincial  Congress  met  at  Halifax  on  November  12, 
1776,  continuing  its  session  till  the  loth  of  December.  General 
Jones  was  a  member  of  this  body  also;  and  among  the  com- 
mittees on  which  he  served  was  that  which  drew  up  the  State  Con- 
stitution and  Bill  of  Rights. 

General  Jones  was  without  military  training,  and  his  reputation 
as  a  soldier  was  not  so  great  as  that  gained  by  him  as  a  states- 


254  NORTH  CAROLINA 

man.     In  making  a  return  of  his  brigade  to  Governor  Caswell  on 
September  8,  i  "JJJ,  he  wrote : 

"I  do  not  know  whether  my  return  is  proper,  for  I  confess  my  ignorance 
in  military  affairs." 

Jones  saw  some  service  in  the  field,  however ;  and,  in  October, 
1780,  joined  the  army  of  General  Gates  with  a  detachment  of  five 
hundred  men.  The  Assembly  of  North  Carolina  having  passed 
an  act  empowering  the  Governor,  with  the  advice  of  his  Council, 
to  march  North  Carolina  militia  (not  exceeding  2,000)  to  the  as- 
sistance of  either  Virginia  or  South  Carolina  whenever  deemed  ad- 
visable, that  action  was  a  source  of  some  dissatisfaction  to  General 
Jones.  When  there  was  a  likelihood  of  his  being  sent  southward 
in  the  Fall  of  1778,  he  wrote  Governor  Caswell  on  October  21st 
as  follows : 

"We  have  always  been  haughtily  treated  by  South  Carolina  till  they 
wanted  our  assistance,  and  then  we  are  sisters ;  but  as  soon  as  their  turn  is 
served,  all  relationship  ceases." 

The  first  State  Senate  which  ever  sat  in  North  Carolina  was  the 
one  which  met  at  New-Bern  on  the  7th  of  April,  1777,  and  the 
journals  of  that  body  show  that  Allen  Jones  represented  North- 
ampton County  therein.  He  was  re-elected  senator  for  several 
terms,  becoming  Speaker  on  the  12th  of  August,  1778,  as  successor 
to  Whitmel  Hill,  who  had  been  chosen  a  delegate  to  the  Continen- 
tal Congress.  On  October  25,  1779,  General  Jones  himself  was 
elected  a  member  of  the  Continental  Congress,  and  was  succeeded 
therein  by  his  brother  Willie  about  a  year  later.  When  Allen 
Jones  went  to  the  Continental  Congress,  he  wrote  to  the 
North  Carolina  Assembly,  November  i,  1779,  recommending  that 
the  senior  colonel  in  his  brigade,  Thomas  Eaton,  should  be  ap- 
pointed brigadier-general  for  the  time  being,  and  this  was  accord- 
ingly done.  General  Eaton  commanded  this  brigade  in  the  battle 
of  Guilford  Court  House  and  elsewhere.  General  Jones  was  sev- 
eral times  married,  and  left  numerous  descendants.     Among  his 


ALLEN  JONES 


255 


sons-in-law  were  Governor  William  Richardson  Davie,  General 
Thomas  Eaton  and  Judge  Sitgreaves. 

As  stated  in  the  beginning  of  this  sketch,  Allen  Jones  and  his 
brother  Willie  were  widely  different  in  politics  after  the  Revolu- 
tion— Willie  being  the  leader  of  the  extreme  Republicans  of  that 
day,  while  Allen  was  a  Federalist.  For  several  terms  after  the 
Revolution  Allen  served  in  the  State  Senate.  He  was  one  of  those 
who  framed  the  State  Constitution  in  1776,  and  he  was  a  warm  ad- 
vocate of  the  adoption  of  the  United  States  Constitution  in  1788 
and  1789.  He  was  a  lawyer  of  learning  and  ability  and  of  fault- 
less character.     He  stood  among  the  first  men  of  his  generation. 

The  death  of  General  Allen  Jones  occurred  at  his  seat,  Mt.  Gal- 
lant, in  the  county  of  Northampton,  on  the  loth  of  November, 
1798. 

Marshall  De  Lancey  Haywood. 


THOMAS  JONES 


Referring  to  the  author  of  the  hymn  "Amer- 
ica," Oliver  Wendell  Holmes  said :  "Fate  tried 
to  conceal  him  by  naming  him  Smith."  When 
we  read  the  name  Thomas  Jones,  we  are  led  to 
suspect  that  Fate  may  have  had  a  similar  pur- 
pose in  view ;  and  we  may  add  that  this  apparent 
effort  at  concealment  has  succeeded  admirably  so  far  as  recollec- 
tion by  our  generation  is  concerned,  though  none  of  the  Revolu- 
tionary statesmen  of  his  day  was  better  known  in  the  political 
circles  of  North  Carolina. 

In  the  North  Carolina  Historical  and  Genealogical  Register  for 
January,  1901,  are  some  abstracts  of  wills  which  are  on  file  in  the 
court  house  of  Chowan  County,  and  these  give  the  names  of  three 
testators  named  Thomas  Jones,  to  wit :  Thomas  Jones  who  made 
his  will  in  1765 ;  another  Thomas  Jones  who  made  his  will  in 
177s  (each  mentioning  a  son  Thomas)  ;  and  also  the  subject  of 
our  present  sketch,  Thomas  Jones,  who  made  his  will  in  1797, 
the  year  of  his  death.  The  last  named  refers  to  sons,  Zachariah, 
Levi  and  Thomas ;  daughters,  Mary  Brinn  and  Elizabeth  Beasley ; 
and  grandchildren,  Josiah  and  Elizabeth  Sweeney.  The  three 
first  above  mentioned  persons  bearing  the  name  of  Thomas  Jones 
may  have  formed  a  line  of  descent — ^being  grandfather,  father  and 
son. 

Of  the  public  life  of  Thomas  Jones  of  Chowan  in  Revolutionary 


THOMAS  JONES  257 


times  we  may  gather  much  from  the  public  records,  though  our 
State  histories  throw  Httle  light  on  his  career.  The  sketch  of  him 
in  Wheeler's  History  covers  exactly  three  lines,  with  about  one 
line  added  by  way  of  an  apology  for  not  telling  more. 

Mr.  Jones  was  a  native  of  Gloucestershire,  England,  was  bred 
to  the  law,  was  one  of  the  very  finest  men  of  the  province  in, 
genius  and  learning.  About  the  time  of  the  arrival  of  James  Ire- 
dell at  Edenton,  Mr.  Jones  was  clerk  of  the  court.  He  was  not  a 
man  of  large  means,  but  was  esteemed  one  of  the  principal  men  of 
his  community.  He  was  married  and  had  an  interesting  house- 
hold that  was  on  terms  of  intimacy  with  the  Johnstons  and  others 
of  that  social  circle.  In  1771  Iredell  mentions  him  as  "one  of  the 
best  as  well  as  most  agreeable  men  in  the  world."  A  year  later 
he  mentions,  "Drank  tea  with  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Harnett  at  Mrs. 
Jones's."  Harnett  and  his  wife  were  then  returning  from  a  trip  to 
the  North,  and  their  route  homeward  lay  through  Edenton. 
About  the  same  time  Mr.  Iredell  mentions,  "All  Saturday  morn- 
ing was  writing  Mr.  Jones's  catalogue  of  books." 

In  the  troubles  with  Governor  Martin  and  with  the  Crown, 
Mr.  Jones,  like  Johnston,  Hewes  and  Iredell,  was  a  strong  patriot 
and  was  a  member  of  the  First  Provincial  Congress  which  met 
at  New-Bern  on  the  2Sth  of  August,  1774,  and  also  of  the  Second 
Congress  that  met  on  April  3rd,  at  New-Bern,  being  likewise  a 
member  of  the  House  of  Commons  that  met  at  the  same  place  on 
the  next  day.  That  was  the  last  Assembly  until  the  adoption  of  the 
State  Constitution.  In  the  Provincial  Congress  which  met  at 
Hillsboro,  August  20,  1775,  he  was  also  a  delegate.  At  that  time 
Governor  Martin  was  a  fugitive  and  had  been  driven  from  North 
Carolina  soil  by  John  Ashe,  who  a  month  earlier  had  burnt  Fort 
Johnston  where  the  Governor  had  taken  refuge.  The  counties  of 
the  province  were  under  the  control  of  local  committees  of  safety, 
and  the  fabric  of  the  old  government  was  in  ruins.  The  sover- 
eignty of  the  people  was  being  exercised  by  the  Provincial  Con- 
gress, and  it  became  important  to  establish  some  system  of  gov- 
ernment providing  an  executive  head  for  the  administration  of  af- 
fairs.    On  September  9th  the  Congress  appointed  for  this  purpose 


258  NORTH  CAROLINA 

a  Provincial  Council  composed  of  thirteen  members,  Mr.  Jones  be- 
ing one  of  the  representatives  of  the  Edenton  district  in  that  body ; 
and  to  the  council  were  given  full  powers  of  government.  It  was 
to  meet  at  Johnston  Court  House  once  every  three  months,  and 
oftener  if  necessary,  at  that  or  such  other  places  as  might  be 
deemed  proper. 

Mr.  Jones  was  a  member  of  the  committee,  which  was  composed 
of  forty-five  other  gentlemen,  who  prepared  this  plan  of  govern- 
ment. He  was  also  appointed  by  the  Congress  on  a  committee  to 
confer  with  those  inhabitants  of  the  province  who  had  been  de- 
terred from  joining  in  the  common  cause  by  any  religious  or  polit- 
ical scruples.  Other  important  business  was  also  committed  to  his 
charge.  It  was  this  Congress  that,  while  rejecting  a  proposed  con- 
federation, made  provision  for  a  military  force  and  prepared  for 
war. 

Mr.  Jones,  being  a  member  of  the  Provincial  Council,  attended 
the  meetings  of  that  body  and  was  an  active  influence  in  its  opera- 
tions. At  its  first  meeting  in  December,  it  directed  that  all  per- 
sonal communication  with  Governor  Martin  should  be  cut  off  and 
that  armed  vessels  should  be  fitted  out  with  dispatch ;  one  at  Wil- 
mington, one  at  New-Bern  and  one  at  Port  Roanoke  ;  and  Thomas 
Jones  was  appointed  one  of  the  commissioners  to  fit  out  the  last 
of  these.  He  was  also  appointed  a  commissioner  to  purchase  ma- 
terial and  employ  proper  persons  for  the  purpose  of  supplying 
arms  and  ammunition.  At  the  next  meeting  of  the  Council,  on 
the  28th  of  February,  1776,  Mr.  Jones  was  appointed  with  two 
others  to  confer  with  the  Committee  of  Safety  of  Virginia  for  the 
common  defence. 

On  the  4th  of  April,  1776,  the  Fourth  Provincial  Congress  met, 
Mr.  Jones  being  a  member  of  the  body,  and  he  was  appointed  on 
a  select  committee  to  devise  measures  for  the  better  defence  of 
the  province ;  and  indeed  he  was  employed  on  most  of  the  im- 
portant business  of  the  Congress;  and  was  on  the  Committee  of 
Secrecy,  Intelligence  and  Observation. 

It  was  the  select  committee  of  which  he  was  a  member  that  re- 
ported the  resolution  empowering  the  delegates  from  this  province 


THOMAS  JONES  259 

to  concur  in  declaring  independence.  The  patriots  of  that  day 
were  engaged  in  great  affairs.  Writing  on  Sunday  morning,  April 
28th,  Mr.  Jones  said  : 

"In  my  time  I  have  been  used  to  business,  both  public  and  private,  but 
never  yet  experienced  one-fourth  part  of  what  I  now  am  necessarily 
obliged  to  undertake — we  have  no  rest  either  night  or  day.  The  first  thing 
done  in  the  morning  is  to  prepare  every  matter  necessary  for  the  day ; 
after  breakfast  to  Congress,  there  generally  from  9  until  3 ;  no  sitting 
a  minute  after  dinner,  but  to  the  different  committees;  perhaps  one  person 
will  be  obliged  to  attend  four  of  them  between  4  o'clock  and  9  at 
night ;  then  to  supper,  and  this  generally  brings  us  to  12  at  night.  This 
ha?  been  the  life  I  have  led  since  my  arrival  here.  In  short,  I  never  was 
so  hurried." 

It  was  in  the  midst  of  all  this  haste  and  work,  while  General 
Clinton  was  on  the  Cape  Fear  waiting  for  Lord  Cornwallis's  seven 
regiments,  and  while  McDonald's  dispersed  Highlanders  were  be- 
ing secured  and  an  army  was  collecting  to  resist  subjugation,  that 
a  plan  of  government  was  brought  forward  for  adoption.  On  the 
14th  of  April  Mr.  Jones  was  appointed  one  of  the  committee  to 
prepare  a  temporary  civil  government ;  and  on  the  27th  of  April 
the  House  went  into  a  committee  of  the  whole  to  consider  resolu- 
tions proposed  as  the  basis  of  a  temporary  civil  government.  The 
next  day  Mr.  Jones  wrote : 

"The  Constitution  goes  on  but  slowly.  The  outlines  of  it  made  their 
appearance  in  the  House  for  the  first  time  yesterday.  The  plan  as  it  now 
stands  would  be  subject  to  many  alterations — a  House  of  the  Representa- 
tives of  the  people,  all  freeholders  to  vote ;  second,  a  legislative  council, 
one  member  from  each  county,  and  none  but  freeholders  will  have  a  right 
to  vote  for  the  members  of  this  council.  Next,  an  executive  council,  to 
consist  of  a  president  and  six  counsellors,  to  be  always  sitting,  to  do  all 
official  business  of  government." 

He  mentions  :  "We  have  a  printed  copy  of  the  South  Carolina 
Constitution,  which  is  now  in  full  force  with  the  inhabitants  of  that 
country."  Parties  and  factions  had,  however,  already  divided  the 
patriot  leaders.  Mr.  Johnston,  the  president  of  the  Congress,  was 
not  friendly  to  a  pure  democracy,  nor  had  he  any  patience  with 
demagogues.     He  was  a  man  of  so  much  consequence,  however, 


26o  NORTH  CAROLINA 

that  after  the  first  clashings  those  who  might  be  called  the  radi- 
cals yielded  to  his  views  in  some  measure,  and  some  of  the  differ- 
ences appear  to  have  been  adjusted.  He  himself  mentioned  on 
the  20th  of  April,  "that  some  have  proposed  that  he  should  take 
up  the  plan  of  the  Connecticut  Constitution  for  a  groundwork, 
but  that  all  the  great  officers  instead  of  being  elected  by  the  people 
at  large  were  to  be  appointed  by  the  Assembly,  but  the  judges 
should  hold  during  good  behaviour."  His  own  view  was  that  the 
only  check  in  a  democracy  was  annual  elections.  However,  the 
attempt  to  form  a  permanent  Constitution  at  that  time  was  aban- 
doned, and  Mr.  Jones  was  one  of  the  committee  appointed  to  pro- 
pose a  temporary  form  of  government  until  the  end  of  the  next 
Congress.  By  the  new  plan  the  Provincial  Council  and  the  Com- 
mittees of  Safety  for  each  district  were  dissolved,  and  a  Council  of 
Safety  composed  of  thirteen  was  appointed  with  full  power  to  act 
for  the  defence  and  protection  of  the  people.  Mr.  Jones  was  a 
member  of  the  new  council,  and  he  attended  its  sessions  and  con- 
ducted the  affairs  of  State,  along  with  the  other  members  of  that 
body.  It  was  this  council  which  organized  and  sent  forward  Gen- 
eral Rutherford's  expedition  against  the  Cherokees  in  the  fall  of 
1776.  The  last  Provincial  Congress  met  on  the  12th  of  Novem- 
ber, at  Halifax,  and  Mr.  Jones  was  again  a  member  of  that  body. 
In  view  of  the  purpose  to  adopt  a  State  Constitution,  a  particular, 
effort  had  been  made  to  exclude  Mr.  Johnston.  Mr.  Jones  was 
again  a  member  of  the  committee  having  that  matter  in  charge, 
and  he  presented  the  work  of  the  committee  to  the  Congress,  and 
the  Constitution  was  mentioned  as  Jones's  work.  That  he  had  a 
large  share  in  framing  the  Constitution  must  be  true ;  but  to  Har- 
nett has  been  ascribed  the  provision  extending  religious  toleration 
and  also  the  provisions  so  narrowly  limiting  the  power  of  the  exec- 
utive. To  Caldwell,  Caswell,  Burke,  Allen  Jones  and  Willie 
Jones  also  have  been  attributed  parts  of  the  handiwork.  Judge 
Ashe  in  a  letter  to  the  Assembly,  in  1786,  said: 

"If  my  opinion  of  our  Constitution  is  an  error,  I  fear  it  is  an  incurable 
one,  for  I  had  the  honor  to  assist  in  the  forming  it,  and  confess  I  so  de- 
signed it,  and  I  believe  every  other  gentleman  concerned  did  also." 


THOMAS  JONES  261 


From  this  it  would  seem  that  the  Constitution  was  the  work  of 
many. 

While  it  did  not  meet  with  the  approval  of  Mr.  Johnston,  yet  so 
far  from  its  being  a  pure  democracy,  the  powers  of  government 
were  conferred  on  the  Assembly;  and  Johnston's  idea  of  annual 
elections  was  made  the  foundation  stone  of  the  edifice. 

With  this  last  and  chief  public  work  of  Thomas  Jones  he  dis- 
appeared from  public  life,  and  although  it  appears  that  he  sur- 
vived some  twenty  years,  his  subsequent  career  has  left  no  im- 
pression on  the  annals  of  the  State. 

Thus  attributing  to  him  a  leading  part  in  bringing  into  exist- 
ence our  State  Constitution,  it  may  be  said  that  while  this  great 
document  may  survive  to  remote  generations,  few  will  remember 
the  master  workman  whose  hand  designed  it — for  "the  pyramids 
themselves,  doting  with  age,  have  forgotten  the  names  of  their 
founders." 

Marshall  De  Lancey  Haywood. 
S.  A.  Ashe. 


THOMAS    LAWRENCE 


?HOMAS  LAWRENCE,  who  has  been  an  impor- 
tant factor  in  advancing  educational  interests 
in  Western  North  Carolina,  is  a  native  of  Scot- 
land. His  father,  John  Lawrence,  was  born  at 
Cooper,  Fifeshire,  where  his  grandfather  was  a 
small  landed  proprietor.  Through  the  unfaith- 
fulness of  an  Edinburgh  banker  Mr.  John  Lawrence  lost  his  pat- 
rimony early  in  life,  and  after  learning  the  carpenter's  trade,  mar- 
ried Christina  Johnstone,  a  member  of  a  family  who  were  for  gen- 
erations retainers  of  the  celebrated  House  of  Douglas. 

The  subject  of  this  sketch  was  born  at  Crossford,  a  charming 
rural  village  in  Lanarkshire  on  the  Upper  Clyde,  a  region  pic- 
turesque and  romantic  and  the  scene  of  many  historical  incidents. 
Bothwell  Castle,  the  ancient  stronghold  of  the  Douglas,  and  Til- 
lietudlem  Castle,  immortalized  by  Scott  in  "Old  Mortality,"  are  in 
the  immediate  vicinity.  Sent  to  the  parish  school  before  he  was 
five  years  old,  Thomas  Lawrence's  earliest  playmates  were  blood 
relations  of  Robert  Burns.  In  1838  when  he  was  but  six  years 
old,  for  he  was  born  June  15,  1832,  his  parents  with  their  young 
children  came  to  the  United  States  and  settled  in  Allegheny  City, 
Western  Pennsylvania.  Of  the  children,  there  were  three  daugh- 
ters and  five  sons,  Thomas  being  the  oldest.  In  after  life  two  of 
these  brothers  followed  the  fortunes  of  the  Army  of  the  Potomac, 
while  a  third,  Major  R.  J.  Lawrence,  became  a  gallant  Confederate 


rru;    t',f£-  G  m//.J":j  SBrc-    yin^ 


^  . 


C'-aM  L  SSfl  Nspoii  P-!rri3f-ri 


THOMAS  LAWRENCE  263 

officer.  After  the  settlement  of  the  family  at  Allegheny,  Mrs. 
Lawrence  was  for  a  time  an  invalid,  and  Thomas  was  sent  into  the 
country  to  live  on  a  farm  with  a  Scotch  family.  He  took  his 
school  books  with  him,  for  it  was  expected  that  he  would  attend 
school  during  the  winter  months  in  the  rude  log-cabin  schoolhouse 
near  by ;  but  during  the  three  years  he  passed  with  those  friends, 
doing  all  kinds  of  farm  work  and  with  a  boyish  ambition  to  do 
everything  well,  there  was  one  thing  he  would  not  do — ^he  would 
not  go  to  school.  There  was,  however,  a  good  library  in  the 
house,  and  Thomas  has  even  now  a  distinct  recollection  of  the 
pleasure  he  derived  from  reading  the  "Lay  of  the  Last  Minstrel," 
"The  Winter  Evening  Tales"  of  Hogg — the  Ettrick  Shepherd — 
and  other  such  books. 

Returning  to  the  city  at  the  age  of  twelve  or  thirteen,  he  was 
given  the  choice  of  attending  school  or  going  to  work,  and  with 
his  dislike  for  schoolmasters  he  chose  the  latter.  But  his  taste 
for  reading  grew,  and  he  shared  with  another  Allegheny  boy,  An- 
drew Carnegie,  the  privileges  of  the  Anderson  Library  founded 
by  Colonel  Anderson,  the  remembrance  of  the  benefits  derived 
from  which  has  led  Carnegie  to  provide  so  many  magnificent  free 
libraries  in  this  coimtry  and  the  British  Islands. 

Although  he  read  largely  of  biography  and  the  poets,  as  he 
grew  older  he  felt  the  lack  of  training  that  he  should  have  gotten 
at  school,  and  while  working  at  the  bench  ten  hours  a  day  he  man- 
aged to  go  through  alone,  in  a  single  winter,  Robinson's  Practical 
Arithmetic.  He  also  connected  himself  with  a  debating  society, 
attended  night  school  one  winter,  and  studied  German  with  a 
neighbor  who  was  a  German  schoolmaster.  Associated  during 
the  day  with  an  intelligent  German  employed  in  the  same  estab- 
lishment as  himself,  he  made  rapid  progress  in  that  language, 
which  stood  him  in  good  stead  when  in  after  years  he  was  a  stu- 
dent at  the  German  universities  of  Bonn  and  Leipsic. 

From  the  age  of  thirteen  to  eighteen  he  was  employed  in  the 
largest  soap  and  candle  manufactory  in  Pittsburg,  Pennsylvania ; 
and  having  the  purpose  always  to  do  a  little  more  than  was  ex- 
pected of  him,  making  the  interest  of  his  employers  his  own,  he 


264  NORTH  CAROLINA 

mastered  the  details  of  the  business,  and  so  won  the  confidence  of 
his  employers  that  they  ofifered  to  give  him  an  interest  in  the  es- 
tablishment if  he  would  remain  with  them  until  he  was  twenty- 
one  and  then  continue  in  the  business.  He  remembers  with  pride 
their  statement  to  a  friend  that  he  had  never  deceived  them  and 
that  he  was  the  most  profitable  man  or  boy  tliey  had  ever  had. 

But  in  the  meantime,  the  lad  became  animated  with  a  purpose 
to  perfect  his  education  and  seek  a  professional  career  as  a  lawyer. 
He  left  the  shop  and  attended  Westminster  Academy  at  Allegheny 
City  a  part  of  two  winters,  returning  to  the  factory,  where  there 
was  always  a  position  for  him,  when  school  was  closed,  studying 
and  reciting  to  a  friend  at  night  until  he  was  ready  to  enter  the 
Western  University  of  Pennsylvania,  where  he  graduated  in  1858, 
leading  his  classes  in  Mathematics,  Latin  and  Greek.  At  that  pe- 
riod he  fell  much  under  the  kindly  influence  of  a  devoted  friend  of 
his  family,  Professor  Robert  Grierson  of  the  Western  University, 
a  ripe  scholar,  a  graduate  of  Edinburgh  University,  who  was  a 
cousin,  and  had  been  a  pupil,  of  Thomas  Carlyle  when  in  his  earlier 
da3's  he  with  Edward  Irving  taught  the  academy  at  Annan.  Af- 
ter graduating,  his  circumstances  not  permitting  a  post-graduate 
course  at  Edinburgh  which  Professor  Grierson  strongly  urged,  he 
entered  upon  the  study  of  the  law,  but  was  drawn  towards  the 
ministry  by  the  desire  of  his  devoted  Christian  mother  and  that  of 
his  pastor  in  childhood  and  youth.  After  a  prolonged  and  severe 
struggle,  his  law  books  were  laid  aside  and  he  entered  the  Theo- 
logical Seminary  of  the  United  Presbyterian  Church  at  Allegheny 
City,  graduating  in  1861  and  licensed  to  preach  in  the  Spring  of 
the  same  year.  He  was  ordained  pastor  of  the  U.  P.  Congrega- 
tion of  Putnam,  Washington  County,  New  York,  declining  an  ur- 
gent call  to  a  congregation  in  Philadelphia.  After  a  successful 
pastorate  of  five  years,  he  resigned  his  charge  with  the  intention  of 
spending  some  time  abroad  with  his  young  wife,  for  he  had  mar- 
ried on  June  7,  1865,  Miss  Sarah  M.  Carl,  of  Argyle,  New  York. 
Going  abroad  he  took  a  post-graduate  course  extending  over  two 
years  at  the  universities  of  Bonn  and  Leipsic,  his  particular  stud- 
ies being  the  Hebrew  language   and   Old  Testament   exegesis. 


THOMAS  LAWRENCE  265 

Returning  to  America  in  1869,  he  spent  a  short  time  in  the  West, 
and  then  took  charge  of  the  Sharpsburg  Church  in  the  suburbs  of 
Pittsburg  and  changed  his  ecclesiastical  relations  from  the  United 
Presbyterian  to  the  Presbyterian  Church.  For  about  eight  years 
he  discharged  the  duties  of  minister  in  that  Presbytery,  and  then 
accepted  a  thrice-repeated  call  to  the  chair  of  Greek  in  the  colle- 
giate department,  and  of  Greek  and  Hebrew  exegesis  in  the  theo- 
logical department  of  Biddle  University  at  Charlotte,  North  Caro- 
lina. This  institution  had  been  established  by  the  Northern  Pres- 
byterian Church  for  the  education  of  teachers  and  ministers  for 
their  large  mission  field  lying  within  the  bounds  of  the  two  colored 
Presbyterian  Synods,  covering  the  South  Atlantic  States ;  and  as 
Dr.  Lawrence  had  been  intimately  associated  with  the  members  of 
the  Board  of  Missions  for  Freedmen  located  at  Pittsburg,  and  his 
scholarly  attainments  were  known,  his  services  were  much  desired 
in  that  connection ;  and  although  loving  his  pastorate,  he  felt  con- 
strained to  accept  the  third  call  as  the  voice  of  his  Master. 

The  faculty  of  that  institution  was  comprised  of  strong,  cultured 
Christian  men,  and  Dr.  Lawrence  was  associated  on  the  board  of 
trustees  with  General  Rufus  Barringer,  Major  John  E.  Oates, 
Major  Watson  Reed,  Dr.  E.  Nye  Hutchison  and  Dr.  J.  Y.  Fair, 
and  other  Southern  gentlemen  of  large  experience  and  wide  in- 
fluence. No  institution  for  freedmen  ever  enjoyed,  and  probably 
none  ever  will  again  enjoy,  so  thoroughly  the  respect  and  good- 
will of  the  entire  community  benefited  by  its  work  as  the  Biddle 
University  did  during  the  period  of  Dr.  Lawrence's  connection 
with  it,  nor  did  ever  the  faculty  of  any  similar  institution  enjoy  to 
the  same  degree  the  social  standing  and  prestige  that  were  the  lot 
of  its  professors  and  teachers  at  that  time. 

The  twelve  years  passed  at  Biddle  University  were  the  most 
laborious  and  perhaps  the  most  useful  of  Dr.  Lawrence's  life. 
During  an  absence  of  eight  months  he  raised  $50,000  for  new 
buildings.  Indeed  there  was  no  building  at  Biddle,  when  he  be- 
came one  of  the  professors,  deserving  the  name  of  a  college  build- 
ing ;  but  Dr.  Lawrence  secured  ample  funds  for  the  erection  of  one 
of  the  best  buildings,  for  educational  purposes,  found  south  of 


266  NORTH  CAROLINA 

Washington  City — without  one  dollar  of  debt.  Dr.  Hutchison 
has  said :  "For  this  noble  work  Dr.  Lawrence  received  not  a  penny 
of  pecuniary  compensation.  His  energj'  and  scholarship  in  the 
lecture-room,  and  then  his  success  in  securing,  unaided,  the  $50,000 
necessary  to  pay  for  the  cost  of  the  University  building  and  other 
buildings,  go  far  to  prove  Dr.  Lawrence  the  builder  of  Biddle 
University." 

For  a  large  part  of  the  time  the  general  supervision  of  mission 
work  in  the  adjacent  regions  also  fell  to  the  lot  of  Dr.  Lawrence 
while  he  was  engaged  with  his  classes  in  two  departments  of  the 
University.  He  was  in  the  habit  of  dismissing  his  pupils  at  the 
end  of  the  school  year,  as  they  were  about  to  go  out  to  teach  or  to 
preach  the  Gospel  among  their  people,  with  the  injunction  that 
they  should  seek  to  win  the  confidence  of  the  best  element  of  the 
white  people  in  their  several  communities ;  and  he  advised  them 
that  as  Presbyterians  they  might  naturally  expect,  if  they  conduct- 
ed themselves  properly,  the  encouragement  and  counsel  of  the 
Presbyterian  ministers  and  sessions  of  their  vicinity ;  and  that  this 
would  greatly  increase  their  influence  with  their  own  people.  This 
advice,  however,  did  not  harmonize  with  the  spirit  and  policy  of 
the  executive  officers,  at  that  time,  of  the  Freedmen's  Board,  lo- 
cated at  Pittsburg,  Pennsylvania,  whose  ideas  with  reference  to  the 
social  relations  of  the  two  races  were  ultra-sentimental  and  im- 
practicable. They  acted  and  spoke  as  if  the  negro  had  not  a  sin- 
gle friend  south  of  Mason  and  Dixon's  line.  This,  together  with 
a  constant  interference  with  the  local  board  of  trustees  and  of  the 
faculty  in  the  management  of  the  details  of  the  administration  of 
the  University,  led  to  the  resignation  of  the  board  of  trustees,  com- 
posed of  the  prominent  gentlemen  already  mentioned  and  of  the 
whole  faculty.  The  board  at  Pittsburg,  however,  insisted  on  Dr. 
Lawrence  remaining  as  Dean  of  the  Theological  Faculty,  which  he 
could  not  well  do,  under  the  circumstances,  without  surrendering 
his  self-respect,  and  so  he  declined  to  remain. 

How  far  wrong  those  Pittsburg  gentlemen  were  in  their  views 
and  sentiments,  and  how  correct  was  Dr.  Lawrence's  position,  is 
well  illustrated  by  the  fact  that  on  the  12th  day  of  March,  1866, 


THOMAS  LAWRENCE  267 

the  legislature  of  North  Caroliha  incorporated  a  college  for  the 
education  of  teachers  and  ministers  of  the  Gospel  of  the  colored 
race,  the  preamble  of  which  was  : 

"Whereas,  The  well-being  of  the  State  is  greatly  dependent  on  the 
religious  and  intellectual  culture  of  the  subjects  thereof;  and  whereas, 
there  is  at  this  time  no  college  or  literary  institution  where  those  of  the 
colored  race  who  aspire  to  be  teachers  and  ministers  of  the  Gospel  can 
receive  a  suitable  education,  therefore,''  etc. 

And  by  this  Act  a  corporation  of  forty-eight  members  was  cre- 
ated under  the  name  of  the  "Trustees  of  the  Freedmen's  College  of 
North  Carolina,"  the  corporators  being  among  the  most  influen- 
tial and  devout  members  of  the  Presbyterian  Church. 

And  Dr.  Lawrence  some  years  later  had  the  satisfaction  of  be- 
ing told  by  the  secretary  of  the  Freedmen's  Board  that  that  board 
was  then  more  in  sympathy  with  his  position  than  their  own  at  the 
time  referred  to,  and  he  also  learned  from  another  member  that 
the  board  had  bitterly  repented  the  mistaken  policy  it  had  pursued. 

Shortly  after  leaving  Biddle  University,  Dr.  Lawrence  was  call- 
ed to  New  York  to  consult  with  the  officers  of  the  Home  Mission 
Board  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  with  reference  to  the  school 
missionary  work  they  had  undertaken  in  Western  North  Carolina, 
in  the  inauguration  of  which  he  had  been  largely  instrumental 
while  engaged  in  the  freedmen's  work,  and  with  which  he  was 
subsequently  more  closely  connected.  This  mission  work  has  so 
greatly  prospered  that  it  now  embraces  five  large  boarding-schools, 
eighteen  primary  schools  and  two  academies,  planted  for  the  most 
part  in  the  sequestered  portions  of  the  mountain  region  and  taught 
by  devoted  teachers,  industrial  and  Christian  training  being  em- 
phasized. One  of  the  boarding-schools  is  for  boys,  where  they  re- 
ceive an  elementary  Christian  education  and  are  taught  the  best 
methods  of  farming. 

Dr.  Lawrence  has  a  general  supervision  of  two  of  the  larger 
boarding-schools  and  is  president  of  the  Normal  and  Collegiate 
Institute,  a  school  of  a  grade  corresponding  to  the  State  Normal. 
The  prestige  which  this  institution  enjoys  for  thorough  work  and 


268  NORTH  CAROLINA 

the  record  which  its  graduates  have  made  are  high  encomiums  on 
the  useful  Hfe  of  Dr.  Lawrence.  This  institution  has  practically 
furnished  to  that  part  of  the  State  lying  west  of  the  Blue  Ridge 
a  second  Normal  school,  supplying  an  education  equally  as  thor- 
ough as  that  of  the  State  Normal,  and  at  less  cost,  although  the 
State  contributes  nothing  to  its  support.  While  largely  attended 
from  North  Carolina,  it  draws  support  from  all  the  South  Atlantic 
States  and  sometimes  has  pupils  from  the  trans-Mississippi  region. 
Thirteen  years  have  passed  since  Dr.  Lawrence  organized  the 
Normal  and  Collegiate  Institute,  and  its  success  has  been  beyond 
his  most  sanguine  expectations,  as  well  as  that  of  the  management 
which  is  located  in  the  city  of  New  York. 

At  Biddle  University  Dr.  Lawrence  had  manifested  his  extraor- 
dinary endowment  in  the  art  of  stimulating  students  to  apply 
themselves  diligently  to  the  acquisition  of  knowledge;  and  he  so 
impressed  himself  upon  them  that  although  years  have  elapsed 
since  they  daily  gathered  in  the  lecture-room,  they  still  refer  to 
him  in  terms  of  profound  respect  and  warm  affection  as  a  great 
teacher  and  as  a  minister  of  the  Gospel  and  as  a  sincere  Christian 
friend.  As  valuable  as  his  work  among  the  freedmen  was,  it  has, 
however,  been  surpassed  in  importance  by  his  labors  in  connec- 
tion with  this  mission  work  and  as  president  of  the  Normal  and 
Collegiate  Institute  at  Asheville. 

Professor  S.  F.  Venable,  graduate  of  the  University  of  Virginia 
and  superintendent  of  public  schools  of  Buncombe  County,  has 
borne  testimony  to  the  inestimable  advantage  this  work  has  been 
to  Western  North  Carolina.  He  speaks  of  the  Institute  as  a  grand 
school  for  the  education  of  hundreds  of  white  girls  of  North  Caro- 
lina, many  of  whom  without  it  could  never  have  hoped  for  such 
an  education,  and  he  continues  : 

"Dr.  Lawrence  in  the  executive  position  is  the  soul  of  this  system. 
With  a  managing  capacity  equalled  by  few  and  possibly  surpassed  by  none, 
full  of  love  for  his  work  and  those  committed  to  his  charge,  of  unlimited 
energy,  and  an  accomplished  scholar,  no  one  could  be  better  fitted  for  the 
place  he  occupies,  and  it  is  impossible  to  measure  the  vast  good  to  humanity 
accomplished  by  his  work.    Not  only  is  he  educating  hundreds  yearly  who 


THOMAS  LAWRENCE  269 

are  to  be  the  mothers  of  the  coming  generation,  but  in  his  graduates  he  is 
furnishing  teachers  of  the  best  character  for  the  schools  of  the  surround- 
ing sections  that  so  much  need  their  help.  As  superintendent  of  schools,  I 
eagerly  seek  for  those  of  his  graduates  that  he  recommends,  and  with 
scarcely  an  exception  have  found  them  to  be  highly  satisfactory.  Coming 
in  our  midst  a  comparative  stranger,  he  has  by  his  high  character  as  a 
Christian  gentleman  endeared  himself  to  all  who  know  him  personally  or 
know  of  his  grand  work.  No  earthly  reward  can  repay  him  for  his  labors 
and  self-sacrifice,  but  nothing  could  so  amply  repay  him  as  the  conscious- 
ness of  the  blessings  that  he  has  conferred  on  so  many,  and  the  love  and 
gratitude  that  will  follow  him  wherever  he  may  go." 

By  his  first  marriage  Dr.  Lawrence  had  two  children — Dr. 
Caroline  Carl  Lawrence,  medical  missionary  in  the  valley  of  the 
Nile,  and  E.  A.  Lawrence,  member  of  the  Pittsburg  Bar — and  by 
his  second  marriage  he  has  one  child,  who  is  a  minor. 

In  1 88 1  his  acquirements  led  the  Western  University  of  Penn- 
sylvania, his  alma  mater,  to  confer  upon  him  the  degree  of  D.  D., 
which  he  so  justly  deserved. 

As  a  student  he  has  read  and  studied  all  the  standard  works 
particularly  relating  to  his  mission  in  life.  Of  the  books  which  he 
has  found  most  helpful  is,  first  of  all,  the  Bible,  then  such  others 
as  the  Shorter  Catechism,  Foster's  Decision  of  Character,  Memor- 
abilia of  Socrates,  with  the  Dialogues  of  Plato,  read  in  the  original, 
and  works  of  that  character.  Few  professional  men  have  read 
more  largely  of  the  principal  Latin  authors,  especially  of  the 
poets.  His  familiarity  with  the  pages  of  Virgil,  Horace,  Juvenal, 
and  the  like  has  been  kept  up,  their  perusal  furnishing  the  recrea- 
tion and  solace  of  the  scant  leisure  of  a  busy  life,  in  reviewing 
which,  he  thinks  that  his  mother's  influence  and  prayers,  with  those 
of  his  venerated  pastor  in  childhood,  had  most  to  do  with  the  for- 
mation of  his  character  and  his  determination  to  lead  such  a  life  as 
has  brought  him  his  eminent  success. 

5".  A.  Ashe. 


THOMAS    CRAWFORD    LEAK 


THOMAS  CRAWFORD  LEAK  is  a  fitting  repre- 
sentative of  the  former  slave-owners  who,  after 
the  Civil  War,  became  leaders  in  the  industrial 
progress  of  the  South.  His  career,  connecting 
V'T^/ifViiV^^S^gV  ^^  ^  ^^^^  ^^^  '■^^  °  pe^'iods,  is  an  illustration  of 
xjf^^^^^^:^  the  truth  that  the  so-called  New  South  is  but  a 
development  of  forces  that  were  present  in  the  Old  South. 

He  is  a  representative  also  of  a  large  family  connection,  for 
more  than  a  century  prominent  in  the  business  and  social  life  of 
the  State.  His  grandfather,  Walter  Leak,  a  Revolutionary  sol- 
dier, born  November  30,  1 76 1  in  Anson  County,  married  Hannah 
Pickett,  and  died  at  the  age  of  83  at  Rockingham,  North  Carolina. 
Walter  Leak's  father,  William  Leak,  came  to  North 
Carolina  in  1761  from  Virginia,  to  which  province  his  grand- 
father, William  Leake  the  first,  immigrated  in  1685.  Of  the  nu- 
merous descendants  of  Walter  Leak — the  first  to  drop  the  final 
letter  of  the  name  as  unnecessary — there  have  been  many  men  of 
prominence ;  and  among  them  may  be  mentioned  Walter  F.  Leak, 
James  P.  Leak,  Colonel  John  W.  Leak,  William  C.  Leak,  Robert  L. 
Steele  and  Colonel  Walter  L.  Steele  of  Richmond  County,  and 
Walter  R.  Leak  and  James  A.  Leak  of  Anson.  A  son,  Francis  T. 
Leak,  moved  to  Kemper  County,  Mississippi,  and  became  a  large 
cotton  planter  in  that  State. 

Thomas  Crawford  Leak,  the  subject  of  this  sketch,  was  born  at 


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(         f 


C'laS.L.^&nATa/rasn.  Pu67.'s/,sr. 


THOMAS  CRAWFORD  LEAK  '       271 

Rockingham,  North  Carolina,  May  2,  183 1,  the  only  child  of 
James  Pickett  Leak  and  his  wife,  Jane  Wall  Crawford.  Mrs. 
Leak's  father,  Thomas  Crawford,  removed  about  1830  to  Paris, 
Tennessee,  where  he  achieved  considerable  success  in  the  manufac- 
ture of  iron  and  cotton.  She  was  a  devout  woman,  of  gentle 
manners  and  refined  taste.  Her  husband,  James  Pickett  Leak, 
was  a  man  of  energy  and  firmness  of  character,  alert  in  body  and 
mind.  By  occupation  a  merchant  and  planter,  he  held  at  various 
times  public  office  in  his  county,  and  was  greatly  esteemed  as  an 
adviser  in  all  business  affairs.  During  the  administration  of  Gov- 
ernor Dudley  he  was  one  of  the  Council  of  State,  to  which  position 
he  gave  punctual  and  conscientious  attention.  His  was  a  long  and 
useful  life,  and  it  stood  for  courage,  for  kindness  in  word  and 
deed,  for  business  success  without  avarice,  and  for  accurate  in- 
formation about  practical  things.  It  seems  needless  to  say  the 
son  of  such  parents  had  the  advantage  of  correct  bringing  up. 
Few  boys  have  had  a  wiser  father  or  better  mother.  He  enjoyed 
also  the  advantages  of  travel.  In  journeys  between  Anson  and 
Paris,  Tennessee,  as  well  as  in  accompanying  the  family  to  the 
health  resorts  and  cities  of  the  North  and  East,  young  Leak  had 
unusual  opportunity  to  see  many  phases  of  the  life  of  that  period. 

He  attended  the  schools  of  his  native  village,  going  later  to  the 
university  of  the  State,  from  which  he  graduated  in  1853. 

In  January,  1855,  he  was  married  to  Miss  Martha  Poythress 
Wall,  daughter  of  Mial  Wall  and  sister  of  the  late  Henry  Clay 
Wall  of  Richmond  County,  a  lady  of  unusual  grace  and  beauty  of 
character.  She  died  January  7,  1898,  greatly  lamented,  and  is 
survived  by  seven  of  their  eight  children. 

Until  the  close  of  the  civil  war  Mr.  Leak  led  the  I'fe  of  a  South- 
ern planter  of  that  period,  living  in  comfort  on  his  farm  in  a  typi- 
cal Southern  home.  Here  he  entered  with  enthusiasm  into  the 
study  and  practice  of  agriculture,  discovering  and  utilizing  thus 
early  not  a  few  of  the  methods  insisted  upon  at  the  present  time 
for  successful  farming.  Possessing  a  clear,  strong  intellect,  he 
easily  mastered  every  detail  of  the  situation.  His  administrative 
capacity  was  developed,  and  the  power  to  mentally  weigh  and  de- 


272  NORTH  CAROLINA 

termine  correctly  was  cultivated  in  the  management  of  his  slaves ; 
and  upon  these  qualities  his  later  success  has  rested.  The  skill 
that  organized  and  managed  his  plantation  then  has  since,  under 
other  conditions,  brought  him  success  in  cotton-milling  and  in 
banking. 

His  farm,  being  in  the  line  of  Sherman's  march,  was  overrun 
and  pillaged,  every  animal  on  it  being  killed  or  carried  off.  Un- 
able to  procure  other  stock  in  time,  his  land  that  year  was  largely 
prepared  for  planting  by  his  slaves,  two  men  cheerfully  pullingi 
the  plow  while  another  held  it  in  the  ground.  With  the  freeing  of 
the  slaves  his  eyes  were  turned  from  the  farm  to  seek  some  other 
business;  and  while  still  retaining  a  lively  interest  in  agriculture, 
he  has  never  actively  returned  to  it,  though  much  attached  to 
country  life. 

About  1868  he  removed  his  residence  to  the  town  of  Rocking- 
ham, taking  from  that  time  on  a  prominent  part  in  all  movements 
looking  to  its  progress.  His  farm  lands  were  sold  and  the  pro- 
ceeds invested  in  cotton  mills,  to  the  management  of  which  the 
last  thirty  years  of  his  life  have  been  largely  devoted.  In  1874 
he  was  one  of  the  organizers  of  the  Pee  Dee  Manufacturing  Com- 
pany at  Rockingham,  North  Carolina,  for  the  manufacture  of  cot- 
ton fabrics.  This  was  followed  a  few  years  later  by  the  Rober- 
dell  Manufacturing  Company  of  the  same  town.  In  both  of  these 
enterprises  he  has  since  been  a  leading  spirit.  They  are  two  of 
the  strongest  and  most  successful  corporations  of  our  State,  each 
operating  two  cotton  mills,  whose  product  stands  high  in  the  mar- 
kets of  the  country.  His  son,  W.  C.  Leak,  is  president  of  the  Pee 
Dee  Company,  while  another  son,  T.  C.  Leak,  Jr.,  holds  that  posi- 
tion in  the  Roberdell  Company.  Another  similar  enterprise  whose 
success  has  been  largely  due  to  his  business  sagacity  is  the  cotton 
mill  of  Leak,  Wall  and  McRae,  and  since  for  business  reasons  in- 
corporated under  the  firm  name.  This  mill  is  also  located  near 
Rockingham,  and  manufactures  cotton  fabrics.  Several  years  ago 
Mr.  Leak  relinquished  the  presidency  of  it  in  favor  of  his  son,  J. 
P.  Leak,  who  now  has  the  active  management. 

In  1 89 1  Mr.  Leak  organized  the  Bank  of  Pee  Dee  at  Rocking- 


THOMAS  CRAWFORD  LEAK  273 

ham,  North  CaroHna,  of  which  he  has  since  been  the  president. 
This  was  one  of  the  earhest  banks  started  in  that  section.  His 
reputation  as  a  skillful  financier  and  as  a  man  of  integrity  of  char- 
acter has  commanded  at  all  times  for  it  the  confidence  and  patron- 
age of  the  public.  Its  success  has  been  so  marked  as  to  encourage 
the  organization  of  a  number  of  other  banks  in  the  surrounding 
country.  Closely  allied  with  the  Bank  of  Pee  Dee  is  the  Richmond 
County  Savings  Bank,  organized  by  himself  and  others  in  1901,  in 
which,  however,  he  did  not  accept  official  position. 

In  politics  Mr.  Leak  is  a  Democrat  and  takes  active  interest  in 
party  affairs.  While  never  desiring  public  office,  he  has  consist- 
ently aided  the  cause  of  good  government  in  a  most  loyal  and  ener- 
getic manner. 

Hunting  and  fishing  have  been  the  forms  of  recreation  in  which 
he  greatly  believes.  Life  in  the  woods  has  for  him  a  charm 
which  neither  time  nor  change  of  circumstance  can  break.  It  has 
been  the  constant  tonic  of  his  life  and  to  it  he  ascribes  good 
health  and  all  attendant  blessings.  Around  his  plantation  home 
in  the  ante-bellum  days  were  deer,  turkey,  and  foxes  in  sufficient 
abundance  to  afford  good  sport,  while  the  near-by  waters  of  the 
great  Pee  Dee  and  its  tributaries  were  well  stocked  with  fish  in 
summer,  and  freely  visited  by  ducks  and  geese  in  winter.  Environ- 
ment gave  him  leisure  to  hunt  and  fish.  A  constitution,  never 
robust,  needed  the  stimulus,  and  an  inherited  fondness  of  the 
thing  did  the  rest.  Since  boyhood  an  expert  in  the  use  of  fire- 
arms, he  has  at  different  periods  been  unerring  with  shotgun, 
rifle,  and  pistol.  On  one  occasion,  while  riding  along  the  public 
road,  he  heard  his  dogs  start  a  deer,  and  knew  at  once  where  he 
could  get  a  shot.  Having  a  pistol  in  his  pocket,  he  quickly  dis- 
mounted and  ran  to  a  near-by  stand  in  time  to  kill  the  deer  as  she 
ran  by,  striking  her  with  two  out  of  the  three  shots  fired.  For 
many  years  he  had  marked  success  hunting  deer,  having  killed  no 
less  than  five  hundred. 

Mr.  Leak  adorns  the  social  circle,  where  he  excels  in  conversa- 
tion. He  has  about  him  a  vein  of  humor  and  a  capacity  for  per- 
petrating jokes  that  afford  light  and  cheer  in  the  darkest  hour. 


274 


NORTH  CAROLINA 


and  have  made  his  life  one  of  sunshine.  As  a  companion  he  is  en- 
tirely lovable.  His  leading  characteristics  are  great  self-control, 
marked  consideration  for  the  opinions  of  others,  coupled  with  a 
capacity  to  reach  wise  conclusions  and  to  act  without  hesitation. 
He  has  always  been  intensely  devoted  to  the  South,  her  institu- 
tions and  history.  To  young  people  he  is  uniformly  considerate 
and  helpful,  encouraging  them  in  all  laudable  efforts.  In  senti- 
ment and  affiliation  he  is  a  Methodist.  In  his  seventy-fourth  year, 
he  is  active  and  well  preserved  and,  by  cultivating  a  philosophical 
spirit  in  all  things,  he  has  gotten  out  of  life  much  genuine 
happiness. 

JV.  L.  Parsons. 


£7v,0.  £y  S.  S.  Tl^aams  S  Bnr  AT-^ 


C/^^  L.l^n  Nuppsi    ,^ub!^h:!r 


AUGUSTUS    LEAZAR 

AUGUSTUS  LEAZAR  was  born  on  his  father's 
plantation,  Leazarwell,  in  Rowan  County, 
March  27,  1843.  The  Leazars  trace  their  de- 
scent to  a  Huguenot  ancestor  who  settled  in 
Maryland  about  the  close  of  the  seventeenth 
century,  his  sons  going  to  Pennsylvania  where 
a  branch  of  the  family  lives.  John  Leazar  came  from  Pennsyl- 
vania to  North  Carolina  in  1789,  the  deeds  for  his  considerable 
plantation  in  Rowan  County  dating  1790.  He  probably  brought 
a  German  wife  with  him,  German  tradition  descending  in  the  fam- 
ily. John  Leazar,  the  second,  grandfather  of  the  subject  of  this 
sketch,  found  a  German  wife  in  North  Carolina,  Elizabeth  Cole- 
man (Kuhlmann),  whose  father  Philip,  and  grandfather  Nicho- 
las, were  Protestant  citizens  of  Strasburg  and  brought  their  Ger- 
man religious  books  to  America  in  1764.  A  brother  of  Elizabeth 
Coleman  became  assistant  attorney  general  of  the  United  States, 
and  the  Coleman  family  has  been  noted  for  brilliant  mentality. 
John  Leazar,  the  third,  father  of  Augustus,  married  Isabella 
Jamison,  of  typical  Scotch-Irish  stock,  her  ancestors  being  elders 
in  the  Scottish  Kirk  for  generations.  It  was  at  the  house  of  her 
father.  Colonel  James  Jamison,  the  first  citizen  of  his  community, 
that  the  resolutions  were  drafted  (by  guests  during  a  Presbytery), 
which  being  presented  to  Presbytery,  resulted  in  the  founding  of 
Davidson  College.     Augustus  Leazar  inherited  his  tenacity,  his 


276  NORTH  CAROLINA 

deep-lying  tenderness  and  that  strong  sense  of  right  which  after- 
wards distinguished  him,  largely  from  his  mother's  side  of  the 
house,  and  his  type  of  intellect,  his  gift  of  oratory  and  his  ardent 
temperament  chiefly  from  his  father's  side.  From  his  father  he 
received  the  inspiration  to  high  ambition,  from  his  noble  mother, 
good  as  beautiful,  the  influence  so  strong  upon  his  moral  and 
spiritual  nature.  Later  other  noble  women  helped  and  strength- 
ened him.  In  1865  he  was  married  to  the  sweetheart  of  his  child- 
hood, Cornelia  Francis  McCorkle,  daughter  of  William  Brandon 
McCorkle  and  his  wife  Mary  Marshall,  granddaughter  of  the 
Revolutionary  patriot,  Francis  McCorkle  and  Elizabeth  Brandon. 
This  Elizabeth  Brandon  was  the  fair  }'oung  maid  who  gave 
George  Washington  a  famous  breakfast.  Two  sons  and  one 
daughter  were  born  to  this  marriage,  the  daughter.  Carry  Augusta, 
surviving.  After  a  few  years  his  wife  died.  In  1888  he  married 
Clara  Fowler,  daughter  of  Wm.  G.  and  Margaret  Alexander 
Fowler,  descendant  of  the  William  Fowler  to  whom  Congress 
granted  lands  in  recognition  of  his  naval  service  in  the  Revolu- 
tion. She  died  in  1895,  leaving  one  son,  Augustus  Leazar,  Junior. 
The  education  of  Augustus  Leazar  was  begun  very  young.  He 
entered  Davidson  at  thirteen  and  graduated  at  seventeen  with  first 
honor  in  the  large  class  of  i860,  every  member  of  which  was  his 
senior.  His  father  was  originally  opposed  to  secession,  but  gave 
both  sons  to  the  seceded  State.  The  first  public  speech  of  Augus- 
tus was  made  when  a  boy  of  eighteen  in  raising  Company  G  of 
the  42d  Regiment,  North  Carolina  State  Troops,  for  the  Confed- 
erate service.  He  was  commissioned  first  lieutenant  of  this  com- 
pany and  went  out  with  it  March  15,  1862.  In  the  fire  of  battle,  at 
New-Bern,  around  Richmond,  at  Cold  Harbor,  at  Drewry's  Bluff 
and  Bermuda  Hundreds,  at  Hare's  Hill,  in  the  trenches  at  Peters- 
burg, at  Fort  Fisher,  at  Kinston,  at  Bentonville,  he  dared  and  en- 
dured for  the  principles  whose  righteousness  never  ceased  to  be 
his  pride.  His  regiment  was  in  Hoke's  brigade  and  bore  the 
brunt  of  the  fighting  on  many  a  field.  When  the  end  came  his 
company  numbered  six,  himself  in  command.  With  bitterness  of 
soul  he  took  parole  at  Bush  Hill,  Randolph  County,  May  2,  1865, 


AUGUSTUS  LEAZAR  277 

and  faced  reconstruction.  Bitterness  had  long  passed  before  his 
last  years,  and  he  taught  his  children  to  honor  the  patriot  on  either 
side.  But  none  ever  twice  said  "rebel"  in  his  company.  He  had 
longed  to  be  a  Greek  scholar,  but  now  there  was  no  chance  for 
that  or  any  other  professional  preparation.  To  teaching  he  turn- 
ed, at  first  for  bread.  The  work  called  out  the  best  that  was  in 
him,  and  he  gave  himself  to  it  for  seventeen  years.  Soon  to  his 
quiet  country  school  at  Prospect  and  Coddle  Creek  came  young 
men  from  distant  States  to  be  prepared  for  college  or  trained  for 
life-work.  Thoroughness  was  the  absolute  requisite  of  his  pupils' 
work;  rapid  advancement  was  secondary.  Often  to  the  talented 
and  needy  he  freely  gave  extra  hours  even  to  midnight,  with  mar- 
velous progress  as  the  result.  Instant  obedience  he  demanded  and 
received.  Many  a  good  citizen  was  made  of  a  lawless  youth,  and 
none  revere  his  memory  more  than  these.  His  character  wrought 
more  than  his  discipline,  and  the  best  in  his  pupils  responded  to 
him.  Scattered  far  and  wide,  they  "adorn  his  doctrine,"  and 
exemplify  it  by  being  rather  than  seeming.  The  latter  part  of  his 
teaching  was  done  in  Mooresville,  Iredell  County,  partly  with  his 
brother-in-law,  Stephen  Frontis,  as  co-principal  in  a  school  that 
"built  the  town"  for  years.  In  1870  Davidson  conferred  on  him 
the  degree  of  A.  M.  Later  he  became  a  trustee  of  Davidson  and 
so  served  until  his  death.  For  the  celebration  of  her  semi-cen- 
tennial commencement  in  1887  he  was  orator  before  the  societies. 
While  teaching,  a  newspaper  outfit  was  thrown  upon  his  hands, 
and  for  two  years  he  taught  by  day  and  often  later,  writing  by 
night  and  superintending  his  farm  on  Saturday,  while  on  Sunday 
he  managed  the  Sunday-School  and  sat  with  the  session  of  which 
he  was  clerk,  besides  attending  the  two  ordinary  services.  He 
had  joined  the  Presbyterian  Church  in  his  fourteenth  year  and  was 
for  forty  years  a  ruling  elder  in  her  courts.  His  public  career 
began  in  1882  with  nomination  by  the  Democracy  of  Iredell  to  re- 
present her  in  the  House  of  Representatives.  He  had  been  a  Pro- 
hibitionist in  the  State  campaign  of  1880  and  nobly  earned  some 
enmities  that  ceased  not  their  hostility  to  his  death.  Public  sen- 
timent was  not  ripe  at  that  time  for  the  great  reform  which  has 


278  NORTH  CAROLINA 

since  come,  thanks  to  the  pioneers.  But,  with  the  handicap  of  his 
avowed  convictions  and  with  such  a  candidate  as  David  M.  Fur- 
ches  pitted  against  him,  he  was  triumphantly  elected ;  and  in  his 
second  campaign  more  than  doubled  his  majority.  In  the  House 
he  at  once  became  a  leader,  and  so  continued  with  growing  power 
throughout  his  four  consecutive  terms.  Brilliant,  strong,  cul- 
tured, studious  of  the  interests  of  his  State  and  familiar  with  her 
history,  with  unusually  sturdy  convictions  and  utter  courage,  with 
readiness  and  fluency  of  expression  combined  with  rare  clearness, 
directness  and  conciseness,  he  was  a  debater  with  few  equals,  a 
leader  of  men,  a  master  of  assemblies.  His  record  upon  all  econo- 
mic questions  was  distinguished  by  a  wise  statesmanship  that  re- 
sulted in  great  and  lasting  benefit  to  the  taxpayers.  He  was  an 
earnest  champion  of  the  establishment  of  a  railroad  commission; 
and  he  conspicuously  fought  the  gift  of  convict  labor  to  private 
corporations.  He  was  known  as  the  dangerous  antagonist  of  all 
jobs  and  schemes.  He  insisted  that  the  penal  institutions  should 
be  self-supporting  and  not  a  burden  to  honest  citizenship.  In  and 
out  of  the  Legislature  he  gave  thought  and  action  to  agricultural 
interests.  Reared  upon  the  farm,  he  had  there  learned  to  plow 
(with  his  father's  ex-slaves  just  after  the  war),  and  soon  acquir- 
ing lands,  his  love  of  the  soil  and  interest  in  the  development 
deepened  all  his  life.  The  Assembly  of  1882  elected  him  a  mem- 
ber of  the  reorganized  Board  of  Agriculture  upon  whose  execu- 
tive or  finance  committee  he  served  many  years.  During  the 
greater  part  of  his  legislative  career  he  was  chairman  of  the 
Committee  on  Education.  It  can  be  said  that  he  accomplished 
more  for  the  cause  of  education  in  North  Carolina  than  any  other 
man  in  public  service  during  that  period.  In  1885  the  University, 
yet  weak  from  war  and  reconstruction,  sought  the  modest  appro- 
priation of  $15,000.  Mr.  Leazar  had  not  been  personally  con- 
nected with  the  University  except  that  he  had  lectured  for  six 
weeks  before  the  Summer  School  there  upon  English.  He  was  a 
Presbyterian  and  a  loyal  son  of  Davidson,  but  loved  "Davidson  as 
his  mother,  the  University  as  his  State."  He  was  the  author  of 
this  bill  increasing  the  appropriation.     It  aroused  great  opposi- 


AUGUSTUS  LEAZAR  279 

tion,  as  was  foreseen.  He  was  never  a  wire-puller,  and  his  fight 
was  made  from  the  floor  of  the  House  in  a  speech  of  great  power 
and  eloquence.  It  was  the  patriot's  plea  and  carried  the  day.  In 
the  Senate  the  bill  was  in  the  hands  of  alumni  who  made  a  zealous 
and  successful  fight.  Two  years  later  the  usefulness,  the  life,  of 
the  University  was  imperilled,  and  in  that  crisis  he  again  victori- 
ously defended  her.  It  was  doubtless  in  recognition  of  such  ser- 
vice, as  well  as  of  his  fitness,  that  he  was  elected  and  reelected  a 
trustee  of  the  University.  Of  the  State  Normal  College  he  was 
an  early  and  faithful  champion. 

He  was  the  author  of  the  bill  to  establish  the  A.  and  M.  Col- 
lege, first  called  Industrial  School.  This  college,  says  Governor 
Jarvis,  "will  stand  a  monument  to  his  name."  The  Wautauga 
Club,  some  newspapers,  and  a  few  men  of  Mr.  Leazar's  stamp 
had  agitated  the  matter,  but  it  took  vital  form  late  one  night  dur- 
ing the  Assembly  of  1885,  when  Mr.  Leazar  and  Dr.  Charles  W. 
Dabney  prepared  the  bill  which  became  law.  The  value  of  Dr. 
Dabney's  assistance  Mr.  Leazar  always  declared.  Dr.  Dabney 
says :  "As  an  experienced  legislator,  he  dictated  the  language  of 
the  bill  to  me  as  I  wrote,  and  he  afterwards  took  it  and  revised 
it."  That  he  did  this  fully  is  shown  by  the  original  in  the  office 
of  the  Secretary  of  State ;  it  is  entirely  in  Mr.  Leazar's  handwrit- 
ing. He  was  peculiarly  fitted  to  lead  in  this  movement  by  his 
rare  scholarship  and  attainments,  by  his  experience  as  a  teacher 
and  his  interest  in  agricultural  and  other  industrial  lines  of  work. 
He  was  a  trustee  of  the  college  for  many  years,  serving  on  the  ex- 
ecutive committee,  devoting  his  ability  effectively  to  its  interests. 
One  of  its  literary  societies  bears  his  name. 

In  the  Democratic  State  Convention  of  1888,  when  for  personal 
reasons  very  averse  to  the  honor,  he  escaped  nomination  as  lieuten- 
ant-governor by  a  slender  minority.  He  was  returned  the  same 
year  to  the  General  Assembly. 

In  1889  he  was  elected  Speaker  of  the  House.  It  is  worthy  of 
note  that  he  came  to  this  position  absolutely  untrammelled  by 
pledges.  Political  trades  his  soul  despised,  and  he  was  never  in 
their  bondage.     A  student  of  affairs  and  men  as  well  as  of  books, 


28o  NORTH  CAROLINA 

he  formed  committees  wisely  in  the  State's  interest.  In  his  hands 
the  phrase  "dispatch  of  business"  had  meaning.  The  channels  of 
legislation  were  kept  unclogged  and  the  House  adjourned  with 
cleared  dockets.  "At  the  same  time  his  culture  lent  to  the  dis- 
charge of  the  duties  of  the  chair  a  finish  and  elegance  that  has 
rarely  if  ever  been  surpassed  in  the  history  of  the  House."  In 
1892  he  was  a  candidate  for  the  congressional  nomination  from 
his  district  and  met  a  defeat  with  peculiar  honor,  in  that  victory 
was  offered  upon  terms  inconsistent  with  his  high  ideals. 

Promptly  he  entered  the  campaign  and  contributed  largely  to 
the  election  of  the  nominee.  From  the  beginning  of  public  life 
till  cut  off  by  broken  health,  his  voice  was  at  the  service  of  his 
party  and  the  principles  of  good  government.  And  his  was  a 
Damascene  blade  in  battle.  Courteous  withal,  he  always  num- 
bered kindly  acquaintances  among  honorable  opponents. 

Mr.  Leazar,  being  in  entire  sympathy  with  the  agricultural  in- 
terests of  the  State,  became  an  important  member  of  the  Farmers' 
Alliance  early  after  its  organization,  but  when  Colonel  Polk,  Hon. 
Marion  Butler  and  Dr.  Cyrus  Thompson  converted  the  Alliance 
into  a  political  party  known  as  the  Populist  or  People's  party,  he 
publicly  withdrew  from  the  Alliance  and,  faithful  to  his  own 
political  convictions,  continued  an  earnest  Democrat.  He  zeal- 
ously advocated  the  election  of  Governor  Carr  in  1892 ;  and  in 
1893,  upon  his  inauguration.  Governor  Carr  called  upon  Mr.  Lea- 
zar to  put  into  practice  his  theory  as  to  the  finances  of  the  Pen- 
itentiary, appointing  him  the  head  of  the  Penal  Institutions.  It 
was  a  challenge  which  he  was  not  the  man  to  decline,  though  the 
work  was  most  uncongenial  and  foreign  to  his  trend.  He  had 
had  "no  time  to  make  money,"  though  always  equal  to  making  a 
living.  Now  for  the  first  time,  probably,  manifesting  on  a  large 
scale  his  executive  ability,  he  made  the  Penitentiary,  with  the 
great  State  farms,  gradually  approach  self-support,  until  in  his 
last  year  in  office  it  turned  back  into  the  State  treasury  every 
dollar  of  appropriation  and  had  earned  a  surplus  of  $63,000.  Per- 
manent improvements  were  made  which  amounted  to  more  than 
the  appropriation  for  the  four  years.     The  convicts  were  wisely 


AUGUSTUS  LEAZAR  281 

and  humanely  cared  for.  The  moral  tone  of  the  army  of  em- 
ployes was  noticeably  raised  in  response  to  the  character  of  the 
man  at  the  top.  When  his  bonded  term  of  office  was  half  spent, 
in  189s,  the  Fusion  Legislature  abolished  the  office  and  appointed 
his  successor  under  a  different  name.  The  books  and  keys  were 
courteously  but  positively  refused  this  claimant,  and  Mr.  Leazar 
prepared  to  resist  in  the  courts.  He  was  advised  that  he  had  no 
case,  but  won  in  the  fight. 

His  health  was  sacrificed  in  the  work  of  this  office,  and  diabetes 
developed  toward  the  end  of  his  term.  He  recognized  the  inevi- 
table, laid  aside  many  ambitions  and  squared  himself  for  a  life  of 
restricted  work.  His  term  finished,  he  returned  to  the  home  he 
so  loved  to  spend  peacefully  with  his  children  the  years  now  likely 
to  be  few.  It  is  remarkable  that  thus  late  in  life  he  should  have 
given  successful  attention  to  his  own  finances.  His  farms  in 
Rowan  County  yielded  increased  pleasure  and  profit.  Let  it  be 
said  that  his  relations  with  his  tenants  (all  white)  were  remark- 
able and  characteristic.  No  man  lived  two  years  upon  his  land 
without  being  worth  more  materially.  Loyally  he  helped  them, 
and  their  attachment  was  touching.  Again  and  again  he  bought 
a  tenant's  cotton  at  market  price,  and,  selling  later  at  a  better, 
gave  him  the  profit;  nor  were  they  reminded  when  his  sale  was 
at  any  loss.  He  taught  them  agriculture,  economy,  thrift,  honor ; 
he  broadened  their  horizon.  He  believed  this  his  simple  duty.  An- 
other instance  of  his  great-heartedness  to  the  lowly,  and  of  his 
loyalty,  was  the  bequest  of  a  goodly  sum  to  the  surviving  ex- 
slaves  of  his  father's  household. 

Other  business  interests  now  had  his  attention.  He  became  a 
director  of  the  Bank  of  Mooresville,  of  the  Home  Insurance  Com- 
pany of  Greensboro,  continuing  a  director  of  the  N.  C.  Midland 
Railroad,  towards  whose  building  he  had  been  a  leader.  He  was 
largely  instrumental  in  the  building  of  the  first  macadam  road 
made  in  Iredell.  No  longer- able  to  do  what  he  called  work,  he 
still  quietly  accomplished  much,  and  patriotism  in  matters  great  or 
small  glowed  undimmed. 

There  was  no  office  in  the  gift  of  his  countrymen  that  he  would 


282  NORTH  CAROLINA 

not  have  adorned.     And  there  had  been  a  time  in  his  life,  again 
quoting  Governor  Jarvis,  when 

"He  could  have  attained  higher  positions  in  the  State  had  he  yielded 
his  convictions  and  accepted  the  situation.  No  temptation,  no  flattery, 
no  threat  could  move  him  from  the  path  of  duty  and  of  right  as  he 
saw  it.  He  loved  his  State  and  he  loved  to  serve  it.  He  was  ambi- 
tious, but  his  was  an  ambition  to  do  the  right  thing  and  to  do  it  in 
the  service  of  his  State,  his  fellowmen  and  his  God.  He  was  able  and 
wise.  He  had  himself  written,  'Whatever  his  profession,  every  man  is 
a  citizen  and  owes  a  duty  to  the  State  as  he  does  to  his  God,  for  the 
State  is  his  ordinance  for  the  good  of  society.'  He  met  defeats,  but 
he  believed  'the  essential  to  success  is  character,  loyalty  to  right, 
loyalty  to  God.  Without  it  there  is  no  real  success,  with  it  there  is 
no  failure.' " 

He  knew  for  months  that  the  end  approached  rapidly,  but  there 
was  peace.  He  had  been  true  to  every  relation  in  life,  first  in  the 
home,  and  then  in  the  world,  as  scholar,  teacher,  soldier,  citizen, 
statesman  and  churchman.  His  religion  was  everywhere  seen  to 
be  the  dominant  fact  of  his  life.  The  book  kept  most  constantly 
near  him  was  a  Greek  New  Testament.  It  is  indeed  a  striking 
illustration  of  the  truth  and  power  of  the  gospel  of  Christ  that  a 
mind  so  strong  and  so  acute,  so  ready  to  find  weak  places  in  any 
argument,  and  so  keen  to  penetrate  all  shams  and  pretence,  should 
have  bowed  before  the  majesty  of  gospel  truth  and  accepted  with- 
out doubt  the  teaching  of  Scripture  as  the  veritable  word  of  God — 
that  a  man  of  such  imperious  will,  and  so  intolerant  of  seeming 
subjection  to  any  other,  should  have  submitted  himself  with  the 
docility  of  a  little  child  to  his  Lord  and  Saviour  Jesus  Christ,  and 
rested  his  hope  of  salvation  wholly  there.  And  so  he  fell  on  sleep 
February  i8,  1905. 

Courage,  honor,  sincerity,  faithfulness,  energy  stood  out  boldly 
in  his  character.  With  them  blended  deep  tenderness,  great  per- 
sonal charm  and  magnetism.  Enemies  he  made  here  and  there — 
he  was  not  suave  to  trickery  or  injustice.  Little  children  nestled 
to  him — appropriating  his  lawn  for  their  park — ^young  men  and 
maidens  flocked  to  his  Bible  class,  the  aged  rejoiced  in  him,  the 


AUGUSTUS  LEAZAR 


283 


strong  sought  his  strength,  the  sorrowing  turned  to  him  for  per- 
fect sympathy,  the  outcast  looked  to  him  for  uplift ;  and  he  failed 
not. 

Perhaps  he  nowhere  better  summed  up  the  philosophy  of  his 
life  than  in  a  brief  word  on  his  death-bed  to  a  young  legislator 
who  had  come  to  see  him.  .With  failing  breath  he  said :  "It  pays 
better — in  the  long  run — to  be  on  the  right  side." 

S.  A.  Ashe. 


JAMES   IVER   MACKAY 


'LADEN  COUNTY  from  its  first  settlement  has 
given  to  North  Carolina  some  of  its  finest  citi- 
zens. The  Owens,  Robesons,  Porterfields, 
Browns,  McNeills,  McRees,  Salters,  McDow- 
ells, and  Lloyds  are  not  unknown  to  fame. 
About  the  year  1780  there  came  from  Scot- 
land to  Bladen  Iver  and  Ann  Miller  MacKay,  their  family  con- 
sisting of  four  sons  and  one  daughter.  Their  son  John  married 
Mary,  a  daughter  of  William  Salter  and  Sarah  Lloyd. 

William  Salter  was  one  of  the  early  patriots  of  Bladen  and  was 
a  delegate  to  the  first  Provincial  Congress,  elected  in  August,  1774, 
and  also  to  the  Federal  Congress  of  1775 ;  the  Lloyd  family  was 
equally  devoted  to  the  patriot  cause. 

To  John  and  Mary  MacKay  was  born  in  Bladen  County,  on 
July  17,  1792,  James  Iver  MacKay,  the  subject  of  this  sketch.  Af- 
ter being  prepared  at  the  Raleigh  Academy,  where  he  delivered 
an  elegant  address  July  4,  1809,  young  MacKay  entered  the 
University  of  North  Carolina  along  with  his  first  cousin,  Wil- 
liam J.  Cowan ;  but  does  not  seem  to  have  graduated  at  that  insti- 
tution. He  studied  law ;  and  that  he  was  well  educated  and  pos- 
sessed attainments  as  well  as  character  is  amply  evidenced  by  the 
fact  that  at  the  age  of  twenty-three  he  was  elected  to  represent  his 
county  in  the  State  Senate ;  and  he  gave  such  great  satisfaction  to 
his  constituents  that  for  four  terms  he  was  successively  reelected 


I    I 


JAMES  IVER  MACKAY  285 

to  the  Senate.  He  then  gave  way  and  was  succeeded  by  John 
Owen,  who  was  one  of  the  most  talented  young  men  of  the  State, 
and  who  subsequently  enjoyed  the  respect  and  confidence  of  the 
people  of  North  Carolina  in  an  unusual  degree. 

In  1822  MacKay  again  returned  to  the  Senate,  and  again  in 
1826,  and  once  more  in  1830. 

In  the  meantime  he  had  served  as  United  States  District  At- 
torney, and  had  won  high  regard  and  an  extensive  reputation  as  a 
brilliant  lawyer.  In  his  profession  he  was  learned  and  skillful, 
ardent,  firm  and  earnest  in  performing  every  duty  that  devolved 
upon  him.  In  1831,  when  Edward  B.  Dudley  declined  to  be  a 
candidate  for  Congress,  the  friends  of  General  MacKay  brought 
him  forward  to  represent  that  district,  and  he  was  elected,  and  for 
nine  terms  he  continued  to  serve  the  people  of  the  Cape  Fear  in 
the  Congress  of  the  United  States.  Entering  into  public  life  at 
twenty-nine,  and  at  a  time  of  great  political  agitation  and  tur- 
moil, he  so  steered  his  barque  as  to  avoid  shipwreck,  and  by  a 
steadfast  and  undeviating  adherence  to  his  political  principles  he 
so  strengthened  himself  in  the  confidence  of  his  constituents  that 
towards  the  end  of  his  career  he  was  opposed  by  no  competitors. 
In  his  earlier  years  there  was  only  one  party,  that  known  as  the 
Republican  Party,  of  which  Clay  and  Adams  and  Jackson  and 
Calhoun  and  Crawford  were  all  members.  But  Jackson  quar- 
relled with  Clay  and  then  with  Calhoun,  and  grave  issues  arose 
because  of  the  tariff  and  nullification  by  South  Carolina,  and  be- 
cause of  Jackson's  fierce  onslaught  on  the  National  Bank  and  his 
removal  of  the  deposits.  Also  within  the  State  there  was  a  fierce 
conflict  raging  between  the  East  and  the  West  over  the  inequali- 
ties perpf^tuated  by  the  old  Constitution.  General  MacKay,  pos- 
sessed of  great  wisdom,  avoided  the  rocks  and  shoals  of  the  uncer- 
tain sea  of  politics,  and  year  by  year  attained  a  higher  position  in 
the  confidence  of  his  party  associates.  He  adhered  with  con- 
stancy to  the  administration,  or  regular  Republicans.  And  al- 
though many  of  his  friends  followed  Calhoun  on  the  one  hand  and 
Henry  Clay  on  the  other,  and  eventually  allied  themselves  with  the 
Whig  Party,  he  remained  the  champion  of  the  regular  Democracy. 


286  NORTH  CAROLINA 

When  in  1840  the  Whigs  swept  the  State,  he  was  still  reelected 
to  Congress  from  his  district. 

In  1843  General  MacKay  was  Chairman  of  the  Committee  of 
Ways  and  Means,  and  drew  a  Tariff  Bill  that,  however,  failed 
to  pass ;  but  his  report  on  the  tariff  was  widely  circulated  and 
was  received  as  the  best  expression  of  Democratic  thought.  In 
1846  Robert  J.  Walker  was  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  and 
he  desired  a  still  larger  reduction  of  the  tariff.  In  conformity 
with  the  views  of  the  administration,  the  tariff  act  of  1846  was 
prepared,  largely  in  conference  with  Secretary  Walker,  and  was 
introduced  by  General  MacKay,  the  chairman  of  the  committee 
in  the  House.  It  was  the  best  tariff  that  had  been  proposed  in 
many  years ;  and  was  the  overthrow  of  that  system  which  Henry 
Clay  for  a  quarter  of  a  century  had  been  building  up. 

It  passed  the  House,  but  in  the  Senate  the  vote  was  doubtful. 
Two  years  before  Mr.  William  H.  Haywood  had  been  elected  to 
the  Senate  under  instructions  for  tariff  reform,  but  he  considered 
this  measure  as  too  far-reaching  for  him  to  support  it.  Still  his 
relations  with  President  Polk  and  with  the  Democratic  party  were 
such  that,  while  unwilling  to  vote  for  that  particular  measure,  he 
was  unwilling  to  embarass  the  administration  and  the  Democratic 
Party  by  defeating  it.  His  vote  against  it  would  have  defeated  it. 
Should  he  not  vote,  there  would  be  a  tie  in  the  Senate  and  the 
casting  vote  of  Vice-President  Dallas  would  pass  the  measure. 
Mr.  Haywood,  therefore,  determined  not  to  vote,  but  to  resign  in 
preference.  So  at  the  last  moment,  when  the  vote  was  being  taken 
in  the  Senate  Chamber,  seeing  that  the  result  would  be  a  tie,  he 
announced  his  resignation  and  withdrew  from  the  body. 

As  this  tariff  bill  was  the  lowest  that  had  for  many  years  been 
enacted  into  law,  so  it  was  in  its  effects  the  best  that  ever  was 
passed  by  Congress.  It  is  true  that  many  fortunate  circum- 
stances combined  to  promote  the  prosperity  of  the  country,  in  the 
years  following,  in  an  unusual  degree.  But  the  great  prosperity 
on  which  the  country  then  entered  is  also  largely  to  be  attributed 
to  this  measure  of  the  wise  statesman  of  the  Cape  Fear.  For  fif- 
teen years  no  effort  was  made  to  repeal  it.     Indeed  while  every 


JAMES  IVER  MACKAY  287 

senator  and  representative  from  New  England  opposed  its  adop- 
tion, yet  so  satisfactory  had  been  its  operation  that  the  entire 
country  was  thoroughly  content.  What  had  once  been  the  great 
and  absorbing  tariff  issue,  threatening  the  dissolution  of  the  Union, 
had  passed  utterly  away,  and  at  the  election  of  1856  the  subject  of 
the  tariff  was  not  mentioned  in  the  platform  of  any  political  party. 
That  great  question  of  the  tariff  was  apparently  most  happily 
solved  by  the  MacKay  act  of  1846. 

In  1848,  at  the  Democratic  National  Convention,  the  name  of 
General  MacKay  was  presented  by  North  Carolina  for  the  position 
of  Vice-President.  In  that  year  General  MacKay  decided  to  re- 
tire from  congressional  life,  and  was  succeeded  in  Congress  by  his 
friend,  William  S.  Ashe. 

General  MacKay  was  on  terms  of  particular  intimacy  with 
President  Polk,  with  whom  he  had  served  in  Congress,  and  who 
always  had  a  tender  spot  in  his  heart  for  North  Carolina  and 
North  Carolinians.  The  late  Hon.  Archibald  Arrington  of  Nash 
County  used  to  tell  an  anecdote  that  was  characteristic  of  the 
General.  A  party  of  friends  went  to  call  on  the  President ;  when 
the  introductions  were  over.  General  MacKay  wandered  over  the 
room  turning  over  a  book  here  and  looking  at  a  picture  there — 
when  suddenly  he  called  out  over  his  shoulder :  "Oh !  Polk,  there 
is  a  vacancy  in  the  navy  and  I  want  it."  "Ah !"  said  the  Presi- 
dent, "is  there  ?  I  hadn't  heard  of  it ;  but  I  suppose  you  may  have 
it."  "But,  Mr.  President,  I  don't  want  any  supposing;  I  want  it 
now."     And  he  got  it. 

Mr.  Arrington  also  said  that  General  MacKay  was  called  by  his 
colleagues  the  "watch-dog  of  the  treasury,"  or  "old  money  bags," 
because  he  was  so  economical  as  to  public  expenditure  and  so  care- 
ful to  protect  the  treasury  from  unnecessary  outlay. 

While  a  representative  in  Congress  General  MacKay  was  very 
useful  to  his  constituents  and  was  instrumental  in  securing  ap- 
propriations for  the  construction  of  the  arsenal  at  Fayetteville, 
and  for  building  Fort  Caswell  at  the  mouth  of  the  Cape  Fear 
River. 

General  MacKay's  family  was  of  the  Presbyterian  faith ;  but  he 


288  NORTH  CAROLINA 

did  not  attach  himself  to  that  denomination,  and  yet  his  contri- 
butions to  it  were  exceedingly  liberal.  In  some  respects  he  was 
eccentric,  but  he  was  a  keen  business  man  and  accumulated  large 
wealth,  while  particularly  noted  for  his  rigid  integrity  of  charac- 
ter and  contempt  for  meanness  and  deviation  from  the  paths  of 
rectitude.  A  country  gentleman,  in  affluent  circumstances,  long 
associated  at  Washington  with  the  strongest  and  most  polished  of 
our  public  men,  he  was  a  student  of  political  economy  and  of  the 
great  questions  that  agitated  the  public  mind  during  the  excited 
period  of  his  career ;  but  essentially  he  was  a  man  interested  in  the 
community  where  he  was  born  and  whose  good-will  and  respect 
he  valued  more  than  aught  else  in  the  world.  He  possessed  a 
warm,  kind  heart,  and  was  well-known  for  his  benevolent  disposi- 
tion and  wide  charity.  It  is  still  a  tradition  that  many  a  poor 
youth  he  set  on  the  road  to  competency  and  that  many  unfortu- 
nates were  sustained  by  his  bounty. 

He  had  married  a  woman  of  great  beauty  and  unusual  capacity, 
Miss  Ann  Eliza  Harvey,  who  bore  him  one  son,  James  Travis, 
who,  however,  died  in  infancy,  and  they  had  no  other  children. 

Without  descendants,  he  proposed  by  his  will  to  gratify  his 
natural  inclinations  to  serve  those  with  whom  he  had  been  asso- 
ciated in  life.  For  his  Belfont  plantation  he  had  some  years  be- 
fore his  death  been  offered  $27,000;  but  he  declined  it,  and  item 
7th  of  his  will  reads  as  follows  : 

"I  give  and  devise  after  the  termination  of  my  wife's  widowhood, 
my  above-named  Belfont  plantation  to  William  J.  Cowan  and  my  ex- 
ecutors, hereinafter  named,  and  their  heirs  in  trust  for  the  county  of 
Bladen,  on  the  express  condition  that  the  said  plantation  shall  be  used 
as  an  experimental  farm,  and  that  the  poor  of  the  county  and  the 
poor  and  indigent  orphans,  who  are  directed  by  law  to  be  bound  out, 
shall  be  kept,  maintained  and  employed  on  said  plantation  under  such, 
rules  and  regulations  as  the  county  court  of  said  county  may  pre- 
scribe.'' 

This  was  virtually  establishing  an  orphan  asylum  for  the  county 
of  Bladen,  being  the  first  effort  in  that  direction  which  the  writer 
is  now  advertent  to  within  the  State  of  North  Carolina.     The  fea- 


JAMES  IVER  MACKAY  289 

ture  annexed  to  the  bequest  of  establishing  an  experimental  farm 
was  likewise  far  in  advance  of  the  prevailing  thought  at  that  era. 
Since  then  experimental  farms  have  been  established  both  by  the 
general  government  and  by  the  Agricultural  Department  of  the 
State  of  North  Carolina ;  but  General  MacKay  was  far  in  advance 
in  seeking  to  give  practical  effect  to  such  sentiments. 

In  like  manner  he  felt  himself  free  to  deal  with  his  slave  proper- 
ty according  to  his  benevolent  disposition.  Those  slaves  inherited 
from  his  parents  and  acquired  by  marriage,  in  number  between 
200  and  300,  he  determined  to  emancipate  and  to  settle  in  a  home 
of  their  own  in  Liberia ;  and  item  loth  of  his  will  is : 

"It  is  my  will  and  desire  that  the  slaves  hereinbefore  excepted  be 
hired  out  by  my  executors  fon  two  or  three  years  in  order  to  raise 
funds  for  their  transportation  to  the  colony  of  Liberia,  and  as  soon  as 
that  object  can  be  effected,  my  executors  are  hereby  strictly  enjoined 
to  take  the  requisite  means  for  the  transportation  of  said  slaves  to 
Liberia,  under  the  direction  and  patronage  of  the  Colonization 
Society." 

This  provision  of  his  will  was  after  his  death  in  1853 
carried  into  effect  by  his  executors,  and  some  of  the  older  resi- 
dents yet  retain  a  vivid  impression  of  the  scene  when  the  negroes 
left  Elizabethtown  some  two  years  later  to  take  shipping  at  Wil- 
mington for  their  voyage  to  Liberia.  Some  years  ago  one  of  these 
negro  women  came  back  from  Africa  having  the  appearance  of 
being  well-to-do,  and  reported  that  the  MacKay  negroes  had  pros- 
pered in  their  new  home,  her  object  in  returning  being  to  induce 
others  of  the  connection  to  go  back  to  Liberia  with  her.  She  said 
that  her  grandfather  had  risen  to  be  one  of  the  great  men  of  the 
Republic. 

On  September  14,  1853,  General  MacKay  being  at  Goldsboro  on 
business,  accompanied  by  his  friends.  Colonel  John  McDowell  and 
Benjamin  Fitzrandolph,  was  seized  with  a  mortal  malady  and  sud- 
denly passed  away.  His  sudden  and  unexpected  death  excited 
wide  regret  throughout  the  State.  At  Wilmington,  as  his  remains 
were  borne  through  the  city,  there  was  a  great  public  demonstra- 


290  NORTH  CAROLINA 

tion.  His  body  was  met  by  the  military,  bells  were  tolled,  and  an 
escort  accompanied  the  remains  to  their  last  resting-place  in  the 
family  burying  ground  on  his  home  plantation.  The  steamboat 
which  conveyed  the  sad  cortege  from  Wilmington  to  Elizabeth- 
town  was  decked  in  the  habiliments  of  woe,  and  its  monotone  wail 
resounded  continuously  through  the  forests  that  lined  its  banks. 

General  MacKay  was  a  fine  conversationalist  and  was  person- 
ally a  great  favorite  among  his  associates.  Of  him  the  venerable 
Colonel  Wheeler,  who  knew  him  well,  and  who  also  was  well  ac- 
quainted with  the  other  public  men  of  the  United  States  for  a 
long  period,  has  put  on  record  this  estimate  of  his  character : 

"As  a  statesman  he  was  of  unquestioned  ability,  of  stern  integrity, 
capable  of  great  labor  and  patient  investigation.  He  was  in  public 
as  in  private  life  a  radical  economist,  and  belonged  to  that  school  of 
which  Mr.  Macon  was  the  father,  and  he  with  George  W.  Jones,  Cave 
Johnson  of  Tennessee  and  John  Letcher  of  Virginiti,  were  faithful 
disciples." 

That  he  served  with  great  acceptability  as  chairman  of  the 
Committee  of  Ways  and  Means  at  a  time  when  Congress  con- 
tained so  many  eminent  characters,  and  was  presented  by  North 
Carolina  as  the  Democratic  candidate  for  the  Vice-Presidency,  at- 
tests the  esteem  in  which  he  was  held  and  his  intellectual  endow- 
ments. 

General  MacKay  left  no  posterity,  but  Mrs.  Thomas  H.  Sutton 
of  Fayetteville,  an,d  Mr.  D.  C.  Whitted,  of  Chadbourn,  are  among 
his  near  kin. 

5".  A.  Ashe. 


NATHANIEL   MACON 

;  ATHANIEL  MACON  was  born  December  17, 
1758,  at  what  was  then  known  as  Macon  Manor, 
some  twelve  miles  south  of  Warrenton.  It  was 
not  far  from  the  old  Bute  County  Court  House ; 
and  young  Macon  was  sent  to  school  to  Charles 
Pettigrew  along  with  the  sons  of  the  next-door 
neighbor,  Philemon  Hawkins.  At  the  age  of  fifteen  he  joined 
his  former  schoolfellow,  Benjamin  Hawkins,  at  Princeton  Col- 
lege, New  Jersey.  For  two  years  he  followed  the  curriculum  of 
that  valuable  institution ;  but  the  times  soon  became  too  stirring 
for  the  work  of  college  men,  and  Macon  joined  his  fellows  and 
did  his  first  military  service  under  the  flag  of  New  Jersey 
and  at  the  time  when  Washington  was  fleeing  before  the 
enemy  and  without  any  real  prospect  of  ever  again  becoming  suc- 
cessful in  the  fateful  war  already  begun.  The  young  militiaman 
was  not  thoroughly  educated — his  course  of  study  had  been  cut 
short  in  its  very  midst ;  yet  he  was  not  so  poorly  trained  as  some 
have  persistently  asserted;  his  letters  show  that  he  could  use  the 
English  language  well  and  that  he  was  not  less  familiar  with  the 
ordinary  forms  of  expression  than  was  Thomas  Jefferson,  one  of 
the  best  educated  men  of  America. 

In  the  fall  of  1776  young  Macon,  now  approaching  his 
eighteenth  birthday,  returned  to  Warren  County  and  there  began 
a  course  of  reading  in  English  history  and  law.     How  much  he 


292  NORTH  CAROLINA 

accomplished  is  not  known,  for  he  never  entered  regularly  the 
practice  of  law,  though  he  manifested  a  fine  knowledge  of  the 
principles  of  law  late  in  life.  His  acquaintance  with  the  leading 
facts  of  history  as  portrayed  by  Hume,  Robertson  and  Gibbon  was 
creditable.  This  quiet  life  at  Bute  Court  House  was,  however, 
broken  up  by  the  threatened  invasion  of  North  Carolina  in  the 
summer  of  1780.  He  volunteered  along  with  many  of  his  fellow 
"countymen"  and  was  made  captain  of  his  company ;  this  honor  he 
declined,  preferring  for  some  unknown  reason  to  remain  in  the 
ranks.  The  company  to  which  he  belonged  was  placed  under  com- 
mand of  Major  Benjamin  W.  Seawell  of  Halifax,  and  marched  by 
way  of  Wake  Court  House  to  Hillsboro,  thence  to  Camden,  where 
they  met  Cornwallis  and  were  shamefully  beaten.  Seawell's  com- 
panies seem  to  have  behaved  reasonably  well.  They  kept  together 
and  appeared  some  days  later  on  the  Yadkin  ready  to  renew  the 
contest  with  the  English.  Macon  did  not  see  further  active  mili- 
tary service ;  but  when  he  retired  from  the  army  it  was  to  enter 
the  Legislature  as  a  member  of  the  Senate  from  Warren  County. 
On  leaving  the  army  he  declined  to  receive  any  pay  for  his  ser- 
vices ;  and  he  had  not  accepted  the  bounty  to  which  he  was  en- 
titled by  law.  He  thus  gave  as  a  patriot  of  his  time  and  personal 
effort  to  the  country  which  he  was  proud  to  call  his  own. 

In  the  Legislature  Macon  at  once  attained  a  respectable  rank.  It 
was  here  he  came  into  close  harmony  with  Willie  Jones ;  here  he 
first  formulated  those  rigid  ideals  of  integrity  and  the  righteous 
conduct  of  political  aflfairs  from  which  he  was  never  dissociated 
in  the  public  mind.  The  first  of  these  principles  was  that  there 
should  be  no  paper  money  in  a  community,  that  gold  and  silver 
should  constitute  the  total  medium  of  exchange.  Another  notion 
of  his  was  that  States,  like  individuals,  should  "pay  as  they  go,"  en- 
tailing no  debt  on  future  generations ;  a  public  debt  was  to  him  the 
opposite  of  a  public  benefit.  He  believed  in  manhood  suffrage 
with  a  few  limitations — ante-dating  most  other  advocates  of  this 
governmental  doctrine ;  and  that  all  voting  should  be  done  viva 
voce — the  man  who  had  not  the  courage  to  openly  express  his  con- 
victions ought  not  to  be  allowed  to  vote.     Annual  legislatures  he 


NATHANIEL  MACON  293 

thought  essential  to  the  welfare  of  the  people ;  he  did  not  believe 
in  large  salaries,  nor  did  he  have  very  much  patience  with  "ora- 
tors ;"  a  few  plain-spoken  words  sufficed  to  make  his  views  under- 
stood, and  he  thought  others  ought  to  be  equally  direct  and  clear- 
cut.  To  waste  time  in  a  legislature  was  to  rob  the  people.  Noth- 
ing escaped  his  attention ;  he  was  often  on  committees  and  some- 
times harshly  criticised  his  people  on  their  happy-go-easy  ways. 
Still  it  was  his  firm  conviction  that  the  people  would  always  do 
right  if  made  to  understand  public  business.  In  1786  he  was 
elected  delegate  from  North  Carolina  to  the  Continental  Congress  ; 
he  promptly  declined  the  honor.  Macon  remained  in  the  State 
Senate  as  long  as  he  chose;  and  when  he  declined  reelection  his 
brother  John  Macon  succeeded  to  the  position. 

In  1783  Macon  was  married  to  Miss  Hannah  Plummer  of  War- 
renton.  The  young  couple  settled  on  Hubquarter  Creek,  a  small 
tributary  of  the  Roanoke,  twelve  miles  north  of  Warrenton  and 
twenty-five  miles  distant  from  the  Macon  neighborhood — the 
Shocco  section.  On  a  slightly  elevated  plateau  covered  with 
"original-growth"  forest  trees  the  famous  Buck  Spring  residence 
was  built  about  this  time.  It  consisted  of  two  small  but  well-con- 
structed houses  facing  each  other.  One  of  these  houses  was  Ma- 
con's own  apartment.  It  consisted  of  one  large  room  with  a 
low-pitched  attic  above  and  a  commodious  wine  cellar  below.  Op- 
posite the  sixteen-feet-square  house  just  described  stood  a  second 
one — an  exact  counterpart  of  the  former.  This  was  the  kitchen ; 
on  the  second  floor  was  another  attic  which  was  used  as  a  sort  of 
nursery.  The  nearest  neighbor's  house  was  probably  five  miles 
away.  He  loved  the  wilds  of  nature,  the  chase  and  the  freedom 
which  comes  from  isolation.  There  was  nothing  handsome  in  the 
houses  he  caused  to  be  erected,  nothing  indicating  a  pride  of  pos- 
session so  common  with  his  class,  yet  he  made  Buck  Spring  fa- 
mous. He  was  exceedingly  fond  of  the  fox  chase  and  kept  near  a 
dozen  thoroughbreds  for  the  benefit  of  those  who  might  join  him. 
John  Randolph  was  a  most  frequent  companion  on  these  chases, 
and  in  1819  James  Monroe,  then  president,  arranged  his  Southern 
tour  so  as  to  take  in  Buck  Spring  and  one  of  Macon's  fox  chases. 


294  NORTH  CAROLINA 

His  wife  died  in  1790;  in  1791  he  was  sent  to  Congress  from 
what  was  then  called  the  Hillsboro  district,  which  included  War- 
ren County.  He  remained  a  member  of  the  national  legislature 
from  1791  to  1828  without  a  break — -a  period  of  thirty-seven  years ! 
During  these  thirty-seven  years  he  made  many  important  speeches, 
exerted  a  powerful  influence  on  national  legislation,  and  contribu- 
ted more,  far  more,  than  any  other  North  Carolinian  of  any  time 
to  the  higher  and  better  politics  of  his  country.  For  say  what  we 
may  of  some  of  his  limitations,  he  was  never  simply  a  party  man ; 
nor  was  he  at  any  time  a  mere  provincial,  seeking  the  aggrandise- 
ment of  his  State  at  the  expense  of  the  nation.  Indeed,  he  rebuked 
the  North  Carolinian  "log-roller"  of  his  day  as  unworthy  of  his 
people  and  a  menace  to  the  nation. 

Macon  entered  the  national  House  of  Representatives  when 
Washington  was  president,  Thomas  Jefferson  secretary  of  state, 
and  Alexander  Hamilton  secretary  of  the  treasury ;  he  was  an  ad- 
mirer of  all  these  masterful  men,  but  he  was  not  overawed  by  them, 
and  he  ventured  to  think  for  himself  and  to  vote  accordingly.  The 
first  evidence  of  this  independence,  though  some  partisanship  was 
also  present,  appeared  in  his  call  for  an  investigation  o'f  the  treas- 
ury department ;  his  resolutions  expressing  a  lack  of  confidence  in 
Hamilton  were  presented  on  February  23,  1792;  they  aroused  an 
angry  debate,  but  produced  no  other  immediate  effect  than  to  show 
the  growing  discontent  with  the  methods  of  the  Secretary  of  the 
Treasury.  Two  years  later  the  investigation  came,  and  it  was 
shown  that  there  had  been  just  grounds  for  all  the  complaint 
Macon  had  made. 

When  the  Jay  treaty  with  England  was  ratified,  in  June,  1795, 
Macon  made  earnest  protest  against  it ;  during  the  winter  and 
spring  following  he  was  one  of  the  staunchest  opponents  of  the 
measure,  insisting  that  the  House  of  Representatives,  like  the  Eng- 
lish House  of  Commons,  could  lawfully  withhold  the  appropriation 
necessary  to  the  validity  of  a  treaty.  In  this  he  was  of  the  same 
opinion  with  Jefferson,  Madison  and  Gallatin.  The  outcome  of 
his  efforts  was  failure ;  but  he  attributed  the  defeat  of  the  opposi- 
tion not  to  Ames's  brilliant  speech  on  behalf  of  the  administration. 


NATHANIEL  MACON  295 

but  to  the  moral  weakness  of  some  of  his  fellow-partisans  in  re- 
sorting to  the  absentee  method  of  evading  the  issue.  In  the  cam- 
paign of  1796  Macon  was  an  able  supporter  of  Jefferson  for  the 
presidency ;  and  from  1796  to  1801  he  was  Jefferson's  chief  lieuten- 
ant in  North  Carolina.  Macon  was,  however,  more  than  a  poli- 
tician at  this  time ;  he  was  sincerely  convinced  that  the  salvation 
of  both  the  Union  and  the  States  depended  on  the  success  of  Mr. 
Jefferson. 

The  Federalists  were  equally  industrious  and  almost  as  well  led 
as  their  opponents.  They  planned  to  silence  their  enemies  by  law, 
to  stifle  the  press  and  force  the  Republicans,  who  were  friendly  to 
France  in  her  contest  with  Great  Britain,  into  an  unpopular  atti- 
tude by  declaring  war  against  the  French  Republic,  which  Jeffer- 
son and  his  followers  would  certainly  approve.  When  the  Feder- 
alists failed  to  carry  their  war  policy  they  commenced  a  series  of 
attacks  on  their  opponents  through  the  alien  and  sedition  bills. 
These  were  passed  after  much  angry  debate,  and  the  leading 
French  immigrants,  not  excepting  the  distinguished  scientist  Vol- 
ney,  were  forced  to  leave  the  country.  Newspaper  writers  and 
campaign  speakers  were  imprisoned  in  various  parts  of  the  coun- 
try, despite  the  amendment  to  the  national  constitution  to  the 
effect  that  the  liberty  of  speech  and  of  the  press  could  not  be  re- 
strained. Macon  did  his  utmost  to  prevent  the  passage  of  these 
laws,  and  he  did  still  more  to  bring  them  into  discredit  after  they 
had  been  placed  on  the  statute  book. 

In  1798  the  Kentucky  Resolutions  declaring  that  the  alien  and 
sedition  laws  were  unconstitutional  and  if  persisted  in  .would  be 
resisted  by  the  sovereign  power  of  that  State,  were  passed  and  sent 
to  the  various  States  for  approval.  A  majority  of  the  legisla- 
tures indorsed  them.  Macon  favored  them  earnestly;  but  the 
North  Carolina  Assembly,  just  then  under  the  influence  of  Wil- 
liam R.  Davie,  refused  to  approve  them.  It  was  by  a  narrow  mar- 
gin in  the  Senate  that  the  State  was  saved  to  the  Administration 
and  prevented  from  casting  its  influence  on  the  side  of  Thomas 
Jefferson  in  his  great  fight  for  what  he  called  the  essential  rights 
of  free  men. 


296  NORTH  CAROLINA 

The  Jefferson  campaign  proper  came  on  in  1800.  The  Repub- 
licans were  well  organized  for  that  day.  Macon  was  their  chief  in 
North  Carolina ;  Richard  Stanford  of  Orange  County  was  a  strong 
assistant,  and  in  Virginia,  James  Madison,  William  B.  Giles  and 
the  young  John  Randolph  were  the  strongest  leaders.  In  New 
York  Aaron  Burr  was  their  champion ;  in  Pennsylvania  Albert 
Gallatin.  The  Rutledges  of  South  Carolina,  and  William  H. 
Crawford  of  Georgia,  belonged  to  the  same  great  political  party. 
These  names  are  mentioned  to  show  what  class  of  men  were  Ma- 
con's political  associates.  The  result  of  the  long  and  bitter  con- 
test was  the  election  of  Jefferson  and  the  reversal  of  the  policy  of 
the  last  twelve  years.  Rightly  enough  Macon  was  chosen  Speaker 
of  the  House  under  the  new  regime.  In  addition  to  being  Speaker 
he  was  offered  the  patronage  of  his  State,  but  seldom,  probably 
never  once,  did  he  make  use  of  the  power  thus  put  within  his 
grasp.  He  informed  the  president  of  the  merits  of  candidates  for 
office  only  when  asked  to  do  so.  He  distinctly  declined  to  coun- 
tenance any  removals  from  office  in  his  State  for  political  purposes 
except  with  one  class  of  men ;  under  Washington  and  Adams  some 
few  Tories  had  been  appointed  to  important  positions  in  North 
Carolina ;  Macon  thought  these  ought  gradually  to  be  replaced  by 
good  "Whigs  of  '76,"  as  he  termed  the  revolutionists. 

As  Speaker  Macon  had  little-  patience  with  the  members  who 
desired  to  be  everlastingly  on  the  floor  whether  they  had  anything 
to  say  or  not.  In  consequence  he  was  disposed  not  to  recognize 
too  promptly  representatives  who  were  given  to  "spread  eagleism." 
Glad  would  he  have  been  to  apply  the  "previous  question"  rule 
now  so  freely  employed  in  debate.  And  in  1809,  after  the  expira- 
tion of  his  term,  he  lent  himself  heartily  to  the  plan  of  establish- 
ing certain  hard  and  fast  rules  for  the  protection  of  the  House  and 
the  expedition  of  business.  These  rules  soon  acquired  the  name 
"iron-clad,"  and  were  used  in  181 1  by  Henry  Clay  to  direct  and 
limit  the  deliberations  of  the  so-called  "lower  branch"  in  such  a 
way  as  to  give  the  Speaker  despotic  powers. 

The  most  important  piece  of  legislation  that  Macon  and  his  good 
friend  John  Randolph,  his  majority  leader,  caused  to  be  enacted, 


NATHANIEL  MACON  297 

was  the  bill  authorizing  the  annexation  of  Louisiana.  President 
Jefferson,  on  learning  that  by  getting  a  secret  grant  of  two  million 
dollars,  with  which  to  conduct  the  negotiation  with  Napoleon  con- 
cerning the  opening  of  the  Mississippi  and  the  possible  cession  of 
the  site  of  New  Orleans,  he  might  settle  once  for  all  the  all-im- 
portant Mississippi  question,  called  in  Macon  and  Randolph  to 
know  what  the  House  would  do  if  such  a  cai-te  blanche  were  asked 
for.  They  assured  him,  after  knowing  what  the  plans  of  the  Ex- 
ecutive were,  that  the  bill  would  pass,  that  Congress  would  vote  the 
appropriation.  Randolph  conducted  the  scheme  safely  through 
the  House,  but  it  was  Mr.  Speaker's  moral  support  and  strong  in- 
fluence which  enabled  him  to  win  many  a  point  against  the  united 
opposition  of  the  Federalists. 

In  the  fall  and  winter  of  1804- 1805  it  was  decided  among  the 
leading  Republicans  that  some  of  the  judges  of  the  United  States 
Supreme  Court  should  be  impeached  and  removed  from  office. 
President  Jefferson  was  a  bitter  opponent  of  the  Supreme  Court. 
Chief  Justice  Marshall  was  regarded  as  a  personal  enemy.  The 
judges  had  played  into  Jefferson's  hands  during  the  past  two  or 
three  years,  by  reading  the  people  homilies  at  the  opening  of  the 
circuit  courts  in  the  various  States  on  the  iniquities  of  Democratic 
government.  Jefferson  himself  was  held  up  to  the  scorn  and  ridi- 
cule of  conservative  people ;  he  was  declared  to  be  an  atheist,  an 
autocrat,  an  anarchist  and  unworthy  of  the  esteem  of  any  decent 
man.  Judge  Chase  had  possibly  sinned  most  flagrantly  in  this 
respect.  He  was  singled  out  for  punishment;  should  the  remedy 
planned  for  him  act  well,  other  and  stronger  doses  were  to  be  ad- 
ministered to  his  unruly  brethren.  It  was  agreed  further  in  the 
White  House  that  Randolph  should  conduct  the  impeachment. 
Joseph  H.  Nicholson  of  Maryland  aspired  to  the  high  position  thus 
to  be  made  vacant  and  Randolph  hoped  to  win  a  popular  standing 
which  might  open  the  way  for  him  to  the  Executive  Mansion. 
Such  scheming  as  this  did  not  please  Macon.  It  was  an  article  of 
his  creed  that  intrigue  was  ruinous  to  a  party;  and  later  in  his 
career  he  declared  to  his  old  friend  Gallatin  that  the  Jeffersonian 
party  died  of  this  disease  in  1820  to  1824.    Accordingly  he  coun- 


298  NORTH  CAROLINA 

selled  against  the  impeachment  on  the  ground  first  that  it  was  un- 
wise politically,  and  probably  not  deserved  morally.  "Suppose," 
said  he,  "the  judges  had  flattered  the  president  and  the  party  in 
power,  would  they  now  be  threatened  with  removal?  Hardly. 
Flattery  is  worse  than  abuse  and  far  more  dangerous.  If  you  will 
not  punish  men  for  committing  the  greater  offence  wh}-  arraign 
them  for  the  lesser?  Besides,  wfien  opinion  is  freely  expressed  it 
becomes  its  own  corrective.  If  the  judges  speak  falsely  they  will 
soon  lose  their  hold  on  the  people ;  if  truly  then  it  is  best  for  the 
country  to  hear  them."  Such  unpartisan  advice  was  not  wel- 
come in  the  White  House;  Randolph  refused  to  accept  it  and 
Nicholson's  aspiration  continued  to  rise.  The  impeachment  was 
attempted;  it  failed.  Randolph  made  himself  ridiculous  in  his 
speeches  before  the  Senate  and  Jefferson  was  chagrined  beyond 
measure.  Chief  Justice  Marshall  took  a  new  hold  on  the  great 
court  of  which  he  was  the  head.  Macon  alone  had  foreseen  the 
result,  though  he  did  not  remind  his  fellow  Republicans  of  his  ad- 
vice after  the  event.  It  is  clear  enough  that  the  opinion  of  the 
Speaker  of  the  House  in  matters  political  was  worth  heeding. 

From  the  failure  of  the  impeachment  proceedings  Randolph 
gradually  drifted  away  from  the  President ;  he  became  a  formida- 
ble opponent  and  finally  had  to  be  removed  from  his  place  as  chair- 
man of  the  committee  on  ways  and  means.  Macon  was  closely  at- 
tached to  Randolph;  he  inclined  to  take  his  side  as  against  the 
President,  and  before  the  autumn  of  1807  he  had  drifted  so  far 
away  from  Mr.  Jefferson  that  the  latter  decided  that  he  must  not 
be  reelected  Speaker.  Joseph  Varnum  of  Massachusetts  was 
"slated"  for  the  place.  Macon  was  aware  of  the  intended  change ; 
he  remained  quiet  at  his  home  in  North  Carolina  that  Fall  until 
some  weeks  after  the  opening  of  Congress  and  the  election  of 
Speaker.  Illness  was  given  out  as  the  cause  of  the  absence ;  but 
no  one  knew  better  than  Macon  himself  that  there  was  another 
and  stronger  reason.  Jefferson  did  his  share  to  reconcile  his  for- 
mer friend ;  but  he  did  not  succeed.  Macon  stood  aloof,  leaving 
the  Administration  to  get  on  as  best  it  might  with  its  new  allies,. 
the  Republican  recruits  from  New  England. 


NATHANIEL  MACON  299 

He  took,  however,  a  most  active  part  in  legislation;  served  on 
the  committee  on  foreign  relations  and  made  himself  doubly  famil- 
iar with  this  department  of  affairs.  As  the  war  cloud  continued 
to  rise  and  expand  in  the  political  sky  Macon's  office  grew  in  im- 
portance. When  the  next  election  for  Speaker  occurred  Macon 
ran  strongly  and  received  what  to  him  was  a  most  flattering  vote, 
that  of  nearly  all  Southern  members.  His  strength  was  increas- 
ing when  Madison  took  up  the  reins  of  government  which  Jeffer- 
son had  gladly  let  fall  on  March  4,  1809,  advocating  in  his  place 
the  name  of  Albert  Gallatin  of  Pennsylvania.  When,  however, 
Gallatin  took  service  in  Madison's  cabinet,  Macon  renewed  his 
relations  with  the  White  House  and  became  at  once  the  mouth- 
piece of  the  administration  in  the  House.  From  1809  to  181 1 
there  was  no  stronger  man  in  that  branch  of  Congress.  As  leader 
of  the  Southern  Republicans  he  commanded  a  powerful  following. 
He  became  chairman  of  the  committee  on  foreign  relations  and 
from  the  beginning  of  the  session  he  took  a  most  active  part  in 
the  management  and  direction  of  legislation.  His  was  the  most 
important  position  in  the  House  after  that  of  Speaker.  It  was  his 
business  to  propose  some  means  of  escape  from  the  miserable  rela- 
tions with  England.  On  December  19,  1809,  he  introduced  a  ser- 
ies of  retaliatory  resolutions  which  early  in  January  took  the 
form  of  the  "Macon  Bill  No.  i."  After  much  discussion  the  bill 
went  to  the  Senate,  where  it  was  picked  to  pieces  by  the  Smith  fac- 
tion in  that  body — a  group  of  men  bent  on  the  undoing  of  Madi- 
son's administration  and  hoping  to  compass  his  defeat  in  1812. 
Macon  felt  and  manifested  a  manly  contempt  for  the  men  who 
could  thus  jeopardize  the  interests  of  the  country  to  satisfy  a 
grudge  against  the  President  and  his  Secretary  of  State,  Mr.  Gal- 
latin. However,  his  bill  was  killed  by  amendments,  for  when  it 
was  reported  back  to  the  House  in  the  early  spring  its  author  de- 
clared that  he  would  not  now  support  it.  "Macon  Bill  No.  2," 
written  by  John  Taylor  of  South  Carolina,  was  now  introduced; 
it  was  a  much  weaker  measure  than  the  former  one.  Macon  op- 
posed it,  but  it  passed  both  houses  of  Congress  and  became  a  law 
May  I,  1810. 


300  NORTH  CAROLINA 

Late  in  1815  Macon  was  chosen  by  the  North  Carolina  Assem- 
bly to  fill  a  vacancy  caused  by  the  resignation  of  Senator  Stone. 
The  election  was  almost  unanimous,  and  the  faithful  servant  of  his 
people  had  reason  to  congratulate  himself  on  the  universal  ap- 
proval of  the  choice.  Macon  resigned  his  seat  in  the  House  and 
immediately  appeared  at  the  bar  of  the  Senate  to  take  the  oath  of 
office.  He  at  once  took  hold  of  the  financial  side  of  senatorial 
legislation  and  soon  made  himself  felt.  He  gave  ample  satisfac- 
tion to  the  North  Carolina  people,  and  he  was  returned  to  the 
Senate  without  a  show  of  opposition  until  his  voluntary  with- 
drawal in  1828,  when  he  had  reached  the  Psalmist's  limit  of  active 
human  life. 

In  the  Senate  there  was  immediate  cause  for  Macon  to  exert 
himself.  It  was  now  that  the  famous  "liberal  construction"  of  the 
national  Constitution  came  into  vogue.  Since  President  Monroe 
speedily  declared  against  the  new  departure,  the  Senate  being 
largely  composed  of  Republicans  in  good  standing,  the  so-called 
upper  House  supported  staunchly  the  presidential  party.  Henry 
Clay,  continuing  in  the  Speaker's  chair  of  the  House,  became  the 
centre  of  opposition  and  the  place  where  the  greatest  extravagance 
was  either  actually  put  into  the  form  of  law  or  proposed.  Macon 
set  himself  firmly  against  all  the  policies  of  the  Clay  party ;  from 
'  this  time  forth  his  efforts  were  exerted  in  a  negative  way.  The 
new  national  bank,  the  Cumberland  road,  the  protective  tariff  were 
all  opposed  step  by  step,  as  had  been  the  Federalist  legislation  of 
twenty  years  before.  Mr.  Clay's  wonderful  fertility  of  expedient, 
his  ever-expanding  latitudinarian  policy,  aroused  Macon's  dislike 
and  finally  his  fixed  political  enmity.  There  was  not  another  man 
in  the  country  whom  Macon  regarded  as  equally  dangerous. 

In  the  earlier  years  of  the  century  Macon  had  shown  himself  a 
friend  of  the  United  States  Supreme  Court;  he  had  opposed  the 
proceedings  of  1805 ;  he  had  been  among  the  first  of  Southerners 
to  admit  the  right  of  the  Supreme  Court  to  pronounce  upon  the 
constitutionality  of  acts  of  Congress.  But  in  18 19  when  Mar- 
shall's great  constitutional  decisions  became  the  absorbing  themes 
of  the  day,  he  began  to  see  in  the  Court  an  enemy  of  the  Union 


NATHANIEL  MACON  301 

and  the  Constitution  as  he  understood  those  terms.  The  McCul- 
loch  versus  Maryland  decision  and  the  Cohens  versus  Virginia 
case  aroused  the  Southern  Democracy  and  called  forth  from  Jef- 
ferson a  renewal  of  his  war  of  words  on  the  national  courts.  The 
Virginia  leaders  planned  an  amendment  to  the  national  Constitu- 
tion which  should  set  definite  bounds  to  the  jurisdiction  of  Mar- 
shall and  his  court.  Macon  joined  the  Virginians ;  he  renewed 
his  relations  with  Jefferson,  and  from  this  date  to  the  end  of  the 
ex-President's  life  they  kept  up  a  somewhat  intimate  correspond- 
ence. When  Macon  was  authorized  to  have  a  statue  of  Washing- 
ton made  without  limit  as  to  cost,  at  his  request  Jefferson  recom- 
mended Canova  and  delineated  the  style  of  the  work  in  every  de- 
tail. But  the  "spirit  of  1800"  was  not  to  be  aroused  outside  a 
few  Southern  States.  No  amendment  to  the  Constitution  was 
enacted.  There  were  not  five  men  in  Congress,  Macon  said,  who 
held  the  opinions  of  genuine  Republicans. 

Indeed  the  Missouri  question,  the  ever-recurring  slavery  prob- 
lem, had  absorbed  the  attention  of  the  country.  Macon  was  se- 
riously alarmed  for  the  safety  of  the  South  in  view  of  the  expand- 
ing power  of  the  hostile  North.  He  exerted  himself  to  the  ut- 
most to  defeat  the  so-called  compromise  of  1820 ;  he  regarded  it  as 
a  surrender.  Few  Southern  members  felt  the  danger  as  he  did. 
He  declared  that  the  Union  of  1788  was  dissolved  and  that  an- 
other of  unlimited  powers  was  being  erected  in  its  stead.  John 
Randolph  of  Roanoke  joined  him  in  his  warning  complaint,  but 
without  avail.  The  compromise  was  carried  by  Southern  votes. 
As  Macon  rode  homeward  he  noted  the  topography  of  the  coun- 
try and  marked  the  effect  of  climate  on  the  institutions  of  the 
people.  He  wrote  Bedford  Brown  of  North  Carolina  about  this 
time  that  the  country  would  probably  break  up  and  that  the  region 
south  of  the  James  and  Cumberland  Rivers  would  form  an  inde- 
pendent republic  based  on  agriculture  and  slave-labor  as  the  foun- 
dation of  society!  This  was  gloomy  prophecy;  but  time  proved 
it  to  be  not  entirely  visionary. 

As  the  presidential  canvass  of  1824  approached  the  various  can- 
didates appealed  to  Macon  for  support.    His  influence  was  worth 


302  NORTH  CAROLINA 

more  votes  than  that  of  any  other  Southern  member  of  the  Sen- 
ate. Thousands  of  children  bore  his  name ;  counties  and  towns 
were  named  for  him  and  his  short  and  pithy  sayings  were  every- 
where quoted  as  the  essence  of  sound  common  sense  and  practi- 
cal wisdom.  He  favored  William  H.  Crawford,  but  was  unwilling 
to  take  part  in  the  Congressional  caucus  which  was  called  to  nom- 
inate him  in  February,  1823.  He  had  never  believed  in  caucus 
methods,  and  anything  which  resembled  intrigue  he  reprobated. 
Every  effort  was  made  to  get  him  to  attend.  Crawford's  friends 
wrote  to  Gallatin,  now  an  old  man  retired  from  active  public  life, 
beseeching  him  to  influence  Macon ;  and  Gallatin  wrote  Macon  a 
letter  on  the  subject,  but  without  avail.  The  "old  fogy,"  as  the 
Whigs  of  a  few  years  later  delighted  to  call  him,  remained  stead- 
fast, although  he  gave  his  active  support  to  the  able  Georgian  can- 
didate, who  would  have  been  elected  but  for  an  unfortunate  stroke 
of  paralysis  which  put  him  hors  de  combat  at  the  opening  of  the 
active  campaign. 

It  was  at  this  time  that  Southerners  first  put  forward  the  plan 
of  nominating  Macon  for  the  Vice-Presidency,  it  being  contended 
that  he  would  be  a  safe  man  for  the  office  in  view  of  the  probable 
early  decease  of  Crawford.  Nothing  came  of  the  plan,  which  was 
of  Georgian  origin  and  supported  by  Virginia.  Four  years  later, 
when  John  Quincy  Adams  was  casting  about  for  a  Southern  run- 
ning mate  to  strengthen  his  ticket  against  the  invincible  Jackson, 
Macon  was  the  man  to  whom  overtures  were  made  notwithstand- 
ing the  wide  divergence  of  opinion  between  the  two.  Macon  de- 
clined to  entertain  the  proposition,  quickly  discerning  its  incon- 
gruous features.  However  it  was  no  small  tribute  from  Adams 
and  his  friend,  especially  when  it  is  remembered  that  Macon  had 
voted  in  the  Senate  against  every  important  measure  of  the  Ad- 
ministration. Between  1824  and  1828  Macon  was  chairman  of  the 
committee  on  foreign  relations,  and  was  three  times  President 
pro  tein.  of  the  Senate. 

But  the  sands  of  his  long  political  career  were  running  out ;  he 
had  firmly  agreed  with  himself  that  he  would  retire  when  he 
reached  the  age  of  seventy.     He  was  as  good  as  his  word,  and 


NATHANIEL  MACON  303 

when  the  time  arrived  he  sent  his  resignation  to  the  General  As- 
sembly giving  up  an  unexpired  term  of  two  years.  His  short 
statement  of  his  public  career  inclosed  with  his  resignation  is  a 
remarkable  document  because  of  what  it  said  and  because  it  is  ab- 
solutely true  from  beginning  to  end.  He  left  public  life  sorely  re- 
gretted by  thousands  and  at  a  time  when  North  Carolina  would 
gladly  have  kept  him  in  his  place.  He  retired  to  Buck  Spring,  his 
remote  country  estate,  to  spend  a  short  ten  years  in  imdisturbed 
repose. 

But  the  fierce  campaigns  of  1828,  the  weakening  of  Clay's  hold 
on  the  nation,  the  agitation  during  these  years  of  the  right  of  a 
legislature  to  "instruct"  Senators  in  Congress,  the  break-up  of 
Jackson's  first  cabinet  and  the  resulting  contest  with  South  Caro- 
lina on  the  question  of  "nullification,"  all  engaged  his  attention  and 
in  some  instances  drew  from  him  characteristic  opinions.  How- 
'ever,  he  refused  to  manifest  any  public  interest  in  these  contests 
until  1836,  when  Van  Buren's  election  seemed  doubtful  in  North 
Carolina.  Notwithstanding  his  opposition  to  Jackson  in  1824  and 
1828,  he  supported  him  in  1832  and  "came  out"  for  Jackson's  pro- 
tege in  1836  and  headed  the  electoral  ticket  in  his  State.  He 
made  no  canvass,  as  indeed  he  had  never  done,  but  he  allowed  his 
decided  opinion  to  go  forth  to  the  people.  All  the  influence  of 
Calhoun  and  his  friends,  John  Branch  and  Willie  P.  Mangum, 
was  exerted  to  the  utmost  to  defeat  Van  Buren  in  North  Carolina, 
hut  to  no  avail.  Macon's  influence  was  still  enormous  among  the 
masses.  The  Democratic  ticket  was  elected  by  a  small  majority 
in  the  State ;  in  the  nation  it  was  also  successful.  It  can  hardly 
he  doubted  that  Macon's  example  was  decisive  for  his  State.  It 
was  to  be  his  last  campaign.  The  last  public  act  of  his  life  was  to 
journey  to  Raleigh  to  cast  his  vote  as  an  elector.  He  was  the  ob- 
ject of  universal  attention  on  this  visit;  he  was  persuaded  to  ex- 
press to  the  public  his  decided  encouragement  at  the  outcome  of 
the  bitter  fight,  and  he  pronounced  once  again  his  doctrine  that 
the  people  are  capable  of  self-government. 

In  one  other  way  Macon  contributed  to  the  political  life  of 
North  Carolina  during  this  short  decade  of  retirement.     He  was 


304  NORTH  CAROLINA 

a  delegate  to  the  Constitutional  convention  of  1835  and  was  made 
its  president  by  unanimous  voice  of  its  members.  He  was  unques- 
tionably the  man  for  the  position,  though  it  is  quite  evident  from 
his  speeches  that  he  was  already  in  his  dotage.  He  contributed 
much  to  the  spirit  of  forbearance  and  peaceful  compromise  so 
much  needed  in  that  body.  Some  members  from  western  coun- 
ties had  entered  the  convention  with  the  fixed  purpose  of  seceding 
from  the  State  unless  that  section  obtained  a  more  equitable  rep- 
resentation in  the  legislature.  The  demands  of  the  west  were 
not  yielded  and  there  was  much  bitterness  of  feeling,  but  happily 
no  revolutionary  attempts  were  made. 

In  his  simple  home  during  these  last  years  Macon  appeared  at 
best  advantage.  He  owned  some  two  thousand  acres  of  land, 
after  having  given  two  daughters  their  marriage  portions ;  his 
plantation  was  cultivated  by  seventy  negro  slaves ;  and  his  yearly 
income  was  ample  for  his  simple  tastes.  He  received  visitors  con- 
stantly, and  always  with  the  ease  and  suavity  characteristic  of  his 
race.  His  neighbors  were  naturally  proud  of  him ;  they  relied 
on  him  for  counsel  in  their  every-day  affairs  and  appealed  their 
disputes  to  him  for  settlement.  He  read  a  good  deal,  though  he 
was  not  a  "bookish  man,"  especially  the  Bible.  Macon  dressed 
carefully  in  clothes  made  from  the  best  of  materials ;  his  linen  was 
of  the  old-fashioned  style  and  his  boots  were  always  of  the  make 
suited  to  a  gentleman  of  1776.  He  loved  strong  drink,  though  he 
did  not  indulge  to  excess,  and  he  was  wont  to  keep  his  cellar  welt 
stocked  with  the  best  of  wines.  The  guest  at  his  table  was  always 
"treated  to  a  full  bottle,"  with  the  contents  of  which  he  was  ex- 
pected to  aid  his  digestion. 

Macon  was  a  Baptist,  though  the  Methodists  of  North  Caro- 
lina and  Virginia  did  him  the  signal  honor  to  call  their  new  semi- 
nary of  learning,  just  now  being  established,  Randolph-Macon  Col- 
lege after  him.  This  turns  out,  by  the  way,  to  be  the  only  monu- 
ment ever  erected  to  the  memory  of  this  good  and  high-toned 
North  Carolina  leader.  He  was  sensible  of  the  honor  bestowed, 
but  he  seems  never  to  have  given  the  institution  any  considerable 
sum  of  money.     Macon's  religion  was  of  the  simplest  kind — after 


NATHANIEL  MACON  305 

the  manner  of  his  Huguenot  ancestry ;  he  heard  a  sermon  once  a 
month,  but  read  the  Bible  to  his  slaves  every  Sunday  morning. 

Death  came  at  last,  and  the  old  Revolutionist  knew  its  approach 
was  near.  He  was  not  afraid,  but  called  in  his  servants  and  gave 
them  instructions  about  his  final  resting-place,  which  was  to  be  a 
barren  hill-top  in  the  midst  of  his  plantation.  The  carpenter,  too, 
was  called  and  ordered  to  construct  a  plain  pine  coffin  and  to  pre- 
sent his  bill  for  the  same  at  once.  This  was  done,  and  Macon 
paid  the  last  debt  that  man  could  owe  his  fellows.  These  details 
being  over  he  dressed  himself  in  the  way  he  desired  to  be  buried, 
and  in  a  few  hours  life  passed  away.  The  spirit  of  a  remarkable 
man  had  taken  its  flight.  Honesty,  faithfulness  to  his  vision,  had 
been  his  unchanging  traits ;  scarce  another  such  a  man  has  ever 
Hved.  His  impress  upon  North  Carolinians  has  not  yet  been  ef- 
faced. His  traits  became  in  a  large  measure  theirs ;  he  was  their 
greatest  teacher,  one  whose  word  and  deed  were  always  uplifting, 
who  never  flattered  any  man  or  party  and  yet  retained  the  love  of 
good  men  everywhere.  In  Washington  he  had  been  honored  with 
high  station ;  he  had  contributed  something  to  the  tone  of  our  early 
national  life;  both  the  House  and  the  Senate  acknowledged  long 
after  he  had  departed  the  value  of  his  example.  His  place  had 
not  been  filled  at  his  death ;  there  was  no  other  Macon,  nor  is  it  to 
be  expected  that  vastly  changed  conditions  could  produce  another 
such  man  and  patriot.  He  actually  believed  in  and  practised 
Democracy. 

William  E.  Dodd. 


FRAN^OIS-XAVIER  MARTIN 


'RANgOIS-XAVIER  MARTIN,  printer  and 
editor,  lawyer  and  jurist,  was  born  in  Mar- 
seilles, France,  March  17,  1762,  and  his  boyhood 
was  spent  in  that  city.  The  two  most  authori- 
tative sketches  of  his  life  do  not  agree,  how- 
ever, as  to  the  character  and  incidents  of  his 
early  training.  Judge  Howe,  whose  sketch  is  prefixed  to  the  sec- 
ond edition  of  Martin's  "History  of  Louisiana,"  published  in  1882 
(New  Orleans),  is  much  fuller  on  many  points;  he  analyzes  more 
carefully  and  minutely  the  character  of  his  subject,  tells  anecdotes 
of  his  life  and  points  out  his  weaknesses.  The  man  who  walks 
before  us  in  his  pages  is  a  living,  moving  organism,  and  the 
sketch  bears  every  evidence  of  being  the  work  of  a  scholar  who 
sought  earnestly  for  the  truth.  On  the  other  hand.  Judge  Bul- 
lard  (vol.  2,  French's  "Historical  Collections  of  Louisiana,"  Phila- 
delphia, 1850),  presents  a  sketch  written  in  the  style  of  two  gen- 
erations ago,  dignified,  formal,  stilted  and  with  less  of  human  in- 
interest  to  attract,  but  the  author  was  for  many  years  an  associate 
of  Martin  on  the  Supreme  Bench  of  Louisiana  and  had  every  op- 
portunity of  learning  his  early  history.  According  to  Howe,  Mar- 
tin's "family  seem  to  have  been  plain  and  quiet  people,  from  whom 
he  derived  as  his  sole  inheritance  a  rugged  physique,  a  keen  intel- 
ligence, and  a  robust  will ;"  of  his  education  he  has  no  exact  knowl- 
edge.    But  Judge  Bullard  says  Martin  was  descended  from  one 


FRANgOIS-XAVIER  MARTIN  307 

of  the  most  ancient  and  respectable  families  in  Provence ;  that  his 
father  was  a  merchant  of  high  standing,  of  piety  and  extreme 
exactness  in  the  management  of  his  business ;  that  the  son's  early 
studies  were  strictly  domestic  and  conducted  by  a  learned  eccle- 
siastic who  also  acted  as  chaplain  to  the  family ;  that  he  acquired 
a  critical  knowledge  of  Latin  and  the  elements  of  English  and 
Italian,  and  that  he  was  intended  for  a  commercial  life. 

Judge  BuUard  says  further  that  Martin  had  an  uncle  in  Martin- 
ique who  supplied  provisions  to  the  French  navy,  and  in  that  way 
acquired  a  considerable  fortune,  and  that  the  nephew  set  out  to 
Martinique  when  eighteen  years  old  to  go  into  business  with  this 
relative.  It  was  not  long  before  the  uncle  withdrew  his  funds 
from  business,  returned  to  France  and  died ;  the  nephew  was  left 
sufficient  means,  however,  to  commence  an  establishment  on  his 
own  account,  but  youth  and  inexperience  brought  financial  disas- 
ter. Martin  remained  in  Martinique  probably  about  three  years ; 
he  had  in  the  meantime  become  interested  in  a  commercial  ad- 
venture to  North  Carolina ;  his  partner  had  died  and  he  proceeded 
to  North  Carolina  himself  in  the  hope  of  recovering  something  of 
the  sums  due  him. 

The  date  of  his  coming  to  our  State  has  not  been  fixed.  It  is 
said  that  he  became  a  volunteer  in  the  Continental  army.  This 
would  indicate  that  he  was  in  the  State  as  early  as  1782.  We 
know  that  he  was  here  in  1783  (History  of  N.  C,  11.,  265).  He 
failed  to  recover  the  money  due,  and  found  himself  a  stranger  in  a 
strange  land  and  with  but  an  imperfect  knowledge  of  the  lan- 
guage. But  North  Carolinians,  then  as  now,  were  ready  to  wel- 
come and  aid  the  man  who  showed  that  he  had  within  himself  the 
elements  of  courage  and  will.  Martin  first  supported  himself  as 
a  teacher  of  French,  but  seeking  more  remunerative  fields  deter- 
mined to  become  a  printer.  He  knew  nothing  of  that  business, 
but  applied  for  a  position.  There  seems  to  have  been  at  that 
time  but  one  printing  establishment  in  the  town,  that  of  Robert 
Keith  and  Company,  who  on  August  28,  1783,  revived  the  North 
Carolina  Gazette,  or  Imperial  Intelligencer  and  Weekly  General 
Advertiser,  using  the  types  and  press   of   James   Davis.    Judge 


3o8  NORTH  CAROLINA 

Bullard  says  that  Martin  served  his  apprenticeship  with  James 
Clark,  but  there  was  not  a  printer  in  the  town  by  that  name.  It 
is  possible  that  Judge  Bullard  meant  to  say  James  Davis,  but  it 
seems  that  Davis  had  at  that  time  retired  from  business,  that  his 
son,  Thomas  Davis,  was  established  in  Halifax,  and  that  Martin's 
first  service  was  with  Keith,  for  we  know  that  about  this  time 
Keith  advertised  for  a  '"couple  of  lads  fourteen  or  fifteen  years  of 
age"  to  learn  the  business. 

At  any  rate  Martin  learned  the  printer's  trade  in  New-Bern ;  by 
characteristic  frugality  and  industry  he  soon  got  a  start  in  life; 
by  the  aid  of  friends  secured  a  press,  probably  Keith's,  and  later 
acquired  his  newspaper,  the  North  Carolina  Gazette.  We  do  not 
know  at  what  time  he  became  editor  of  this  sheet,  but  he  was  editor 
March  23,  1793,  most  probably  several  years  before  that  date. 
After  securing  his  press  Martin  printed  his  newspaper  and  is  said 
to  have  also  printed  almanacs  and  school  books,  and  to  have  ped- 
dled them  through  Craven  and  the  adjoining  counties,  but  none  of 
these  imprints  have  come  under  my  observation.  If  this  was  ever 
done  it  was  perhaps  soon  outgrown,  for  as  early  as  1785  he  had 
attained  the  dignity  of  a  publisher,  and  on  November  22,  1785, 
"Martin  and  Company,  printers  in  the  town  of  New-Bern,"  were 
applicants  for  the  public  printing  (State  Records,  XVII.,  279). 
He  seems  to  have  engaged  in  other  business  also,  for  in  1786  the 
French  consul  in  Charleston  gave  judgment  against  him  for  589 
pounds  in  the  case  of  J.  J.  Coulougnac  of  New  York,  by  whom 
Martin  had  been  employed  in  that  city  in  1785.  In  time  his  print- 
ing business  became  lucrative ;  Ogden  was  admitted  as  a  partner 
and  the  business  was  continued  as  long  as  Martin  remained  in 
North  Carolina. 

But  even  in  his  earlier  days  printing  and  peddling  books  and  al- 
manacs and  editing  a  newspaper  were  not  enough  for  the  active 
mind  of  Frangois-Xavier  Martin.  He  began  the  study  of  law, 
encouraged  to  the  step  by  Abner  Nash,  who  had  learned  his  in- 
herent worth.  He  was  admitted  to  the  bar  in  1789  when  twenty- 
seven,  and  took  position  not  as  a  brilliant  advocate,  but  as  a  stu- 
dent of  laws  and  of  jurisprudence  who  was  destined  to  become  a 


FRANQOIS-XAVIER  MARTIN  309 

jurist.  That  he  had  already  attained  an  honorable  position  in 
the  aristocratic  society  of  New-Bern  is  shown  by  his  presence  on 
the  committee  to  receive  General  Washington  on  his  visit  in  1791. 
Martin's  practice  of  law  helped  him  as  a  printer  of  legal  works 
and  vice  versa.  In  1791  he  issued  his  first  legal  compilation,  "The 
Office  and  Authority  of  a  Justice  of  the  Peace,"  so  far  as  known 
the  first  law  book  coming  from  his  press.  This  was  followed  in 
1792  by  his  "Statutes  of  the  Parliament  of  England  in  force  in 
North  Carolina."  This  was  an  official  collection,  prepared  in  obe- 
dience to  a  resolve  of  the  legislature.  It  involved  a  vast  amount 
of  labor,  but  was  sharply  criticised  by  the  compilers  of  the  Revised 
Statutes  of  1837,  who  say  that  his  work  is  poorly  done,  that  stat- 
utes are  inserted  that  were  never  in  force  and  others  omitted  that 
were,  while  his  amazing  ignorance  of  the  law  literature  of  the 
State  is  seen  in  his  statement  that  he  had  no  guide  to  indicate  what 
British  statutes  had  been  made  to  apply  to  North  Carolina,  al- 
though chapter  i,  Laws  of  1749,  gives  such  a  list.  In  1793  he 
translated  and  published  "Latch's  Reports ;"  in  1794  he  published, 
under  a  resolution  of  the  Assembly,  a  collection  of  the  "Private 
Acts  of  North  Carolina,"  and  in  1795  appeared  his  "Acts  of  the 
General  Assembly  of  North  Carolina,"  1791,  1792,  1793  and  1794. 
This  was  a  reprint  of  the  session  laws  for  those  years  with  a  few 
omissions,  was  intended  as  a  supplement  to  Iredell's  Revisal  of 
1 79 1,  and  was  issued  privately.  In  1797  appeared  his  notes  of 
"Decisions  of  the  Superior  Courts  of  North  Carolina."  In  1802, 
the  firm  name  now  being  Martin  and  Ogden,  he  published  his 
translation  of  Pothier  on  Obligations,  the  first  done  into  English, 
and  anticipating  by  four  years  that  by  Evans  in  England. 
Martin's  edition  had  an  extensive  circulation  in  the  United  States. 
It  is  said  that  he  was  by  this  time  such  an  expert  compositor  that 
the  English  translation  was  never  reduced  to  manuscript,  but  was 
set  directly  from  the  French  original.  He  also  compiled  and 
printed  a  volume  on  Sheriffs,  another  on  Executors,  and  pub- 
lished a  number  of  novels,  including  "Lord  Rivers,"  "The  Fe- 
male Foundling,"  "Delaval,"  "The  Rural  Philosopher,  a  Poem," 
and  some  others  like  "Stephanie  de  Bourbon''  that  were  transla- 


3IO  NORTH  CAROLINA 

tions  from  the  French.  In  1804  he  published  under  direction  of 
the  legislature,  a  revision  of  the  laws  of  the  State  in  two  volumes, 
known  as  Martin's  Revisal.  The  two  volumes  are  usually  bound 
together.  The  first  reprints  the  laws  of  1715-1791  then  in  force, 
and  covers  the  same  period  as  Judge  Iredell's  Revisal  of  1791 ;  the 
second  covers  the  period  1791-1804,  and  appendices  bring  some 
copies  down  as  late  as  1807. 

Martin  also  published  a  "History  of  North  Carolina,"  in  two 
volumes  (New  Orleans,  1829).  He  had  begun  collecting  materials 
for  this  work  as  early  as  1791  and  had  brought  them  all  together 
before  he  went  to  the  Southwest  in  1809.  His  volumes  as  issued 
are  a  dull  compilation,  mostly  from  printed  sources,  but  with  no 
exact  reference  to  authorities;  they  are  arranged  largely  in  the 
form  of  annals  and  contain  much  that  is  irrelevant  or  of  little  im- 
portance. He  had  exceptional  facilities  for  his  day  for  this  work, 
but  was  indifferent  to  the  collection  of  facts  even  when  his  op- 
portunities were  of  the  best — witness  his  history  of  printing  in 
New-Bern ;  he  was  even  willing  to  change  facts  to  suit  a  purpose, 
as  he  did  in  the  history  of  the  Quakers.  He  made  little  effort  to 
set  forth  events  in  the  relation  of  cause  and  effect;  he  failed  to 
grasp  the  note  of  freedom  under  law  and  restlessness,  under  the 
violation  of  law  that  so  pervaded  and  dominated  the  colonial  life 
of  North  Carolina,  and  his  work  as  a  history  has  never  been  of  any 
value  either  for  its  facts  or  their  interpretation,  although  still 
quoted  by  the  unknowing. 

In  1806  and  1807  he  represented  New-Bern  in  the  House  of 
Commons.  His  career  in  North  Carolina  was  now  drawing  to  a 
close.  He  spent  28  years  in  the  State ;  out  of  nothing  created  a 
competence  and  an  assured  position;  became  a  proficient  in  the 
common  law,  in  the  laws  of  the  United  States,  and  had  not  neg- 
lected those  of  Rome  and  of  France.  His  career  so  far  as  it  con- 
cerns North  Carolina  is  that  of  a  printer,  editor  and  lawyer,  a  re- 
viser of  statutes,  a  compiler  of  law  books  and  a  historian. 

In  Louisiana  he  became  a  jurist,  building  there  on  the  deep  and 
wide  foundations  previously  laid.  On  March  7,  1809,  President 
Madison  appointed  him  one  of  the  judges  of  the  superior  court 


FRANgOIS-XAVIER  MARTIN  311 

of  the  Territory  of  Mississippi ;  he  filled  that  position  for  a  year 
and  was  transferred  March  21,  1810,  to  the  bench  of  the  superior 
court  of  the  Territory  of  Orleans  and  removed  to  New  Orleans. 
He  continued  to  occupy  that  position  till  the  admission  of  the 
State  to  the  Union,  in  1812,  when  the  territorial  courts  ceased  to 
exist.  He  was  appointed  attorney  general  of  the  new  State,  Feb- 
ruary 13,  1813,  and  served  in  that  position  till  his  appointment  as 
a  member  of  the  supreme  court  of  the  State.  His  commission  as 
supreme  judge  is  dated  February  i,  1815,  and  from  then  till  March 
18,  1846,  he  sat  on  the  supreme  bench;  from  the  death  of  Judge 
Matthews  in  1836  he  was  the  chief  justice  till  he  left  the  bench, 
and  as  he  had  been  deprived  of  office  by  the  adoption  of  the  con- 
stitution in  1812,  so  in  1846  he  was  again  to  lose  office  by  the 
adoption  of  the  new  constitution  of  1846. 

During  the  long  service  of  31  years  on  the  supreme  bench  Judge 
Martin  was  not  content  with  a  mere  formal  discharge  of  his 
duties;  he  did  not  permit  himself  to  wither  away  into  a  clever 
clerk.  His  duties  as  judge  were  performed  with  entire  strictness, 
while  his  labors  in  other  fields  of  intellectual  work  were  immense. 
When  he  came  to  the  supreme  court  of  the  Territory  there  was  a 
formidable  task  before  him.  The  Territory  of  Louisiana  had  been 
French,  then  Spanish,  and  then  again  French  before  it  came  to  the 
United  States.  O'Reilly  governed  by  Spanish  law  and  had  su- 
perseded the  French  laws.  When  Louisiana  came  to  the  United 
States  habeas  corpus,  the  system  of  proceedings  in  criminal  cases, 
and  trial  by  jury,  were  introduced.  In  1808  was  promiilgated  the 
Digest  of  the  Civil  Laws  then  in  force  in  Louisiana,  commonly 
called  the  Old  Code.  That  compilation  was  little  more  than  a 
mutilated  copy  of  the  Code  Napoleon,  but  did  not  abrogate  pre- 
vious law  and  was  considered  as  declaratory  law,  repealing  only 
such  as  were  repugnant  to  it  and  leaving  partly  in  force  the  volu- 
minous codes  of  Spain.  It  was  therefore  necessary  to  study  and 
compare  French  and  Spanish  codes  and  to  consult  the  Roman  law. 
This  was,  perhaps,  the  beginning  of  comparative  jurisprudence  in 
the  United  States.  On  coming  to  New  Orleans  Judge  Martin 
sought  to  help  on  this  work  by  beginning  the  issue  of  reports  of 


312  NORTH  CAROLINA 

cases  decided  by  the  superior  courts.  His  first  volume  appeared 
in  1811 ;  the  second  in  1813  and  brought  the  decisions  down  to  the 
estabHshment  of  the  State  Government.  The  Code  of  1808  was 
revised  in  1825  and  a  Code  of  Practice  was  promulgated.  By  an 
act  of  1828  all  the  civil  laws  in  force  before  the  promulgation  of 
the  codes,  with  a  single  exception,  were  abrogated.  It  was  decid- 
ed, however,  that  the  Roman,  Spanish  and  French  laws  repealed 
were  the  statute  laws  of  those  nations,  and  of  Louisiana,  and  that 
the  legislature  did  not  intend  to  abrogate  those  principles  of  law 
which  had  been  established  or  settled  by  the  decisions  of  the 
courts.  The  result  was  that  the  Codes  of  Louisiana  were  inter- 
preted by  the  decisions  of  her  courts  and  by  the  principles  of  the 
civil  law  so  far  as  they  could  be  applied.  It  will  be  seen,  there- 
fore, that  while  Judge  Martin  was  on  the  bench  there  were  many 
new  questions  demanding  solution  which  were  of  unusual  diffi- 
culty and  importance.  Conflicts  of  decisions  were  to  be  recon-. 
ciled ;  anomalies  to  be  reduced  to  order ;  the  complications  of  colo- 
nial jurisprudence  to  be  investigated ;  the  problems  of  territorial 
government,  those  of  the  Code  of  1808,  the  relation  between  the 
civil  law  and  the  American  system,  the  relation  between  the  Fed- 
eral and  State  powers,  the  constitution  of  1812,  the  Code  of  1825, 
were  to  be  solved;  a  jurisprudence  was  to  be  created.  How  well 
Judge  Martin  performed  these  varied  and  complicated  duties, 
what  patience,  clear-sightedness  and  vigor  he  brought  to  the  crea- 
tion of  a  system  of  jurisprudence  in  Louisiana,  is  a  part  of  the  his- 
tory of  that  State. 

Judge  Martin  continued  with  unabated  activity  as  a  maker  of 
books  on  law.  Besides  his  two  volumes  of  reports  of  decisions  in 
the  territorial  supreme  courts,  he  published  18  volumes  of  deci- 
sions of  the  supreme  court  of  the  State,  the  last  of  these  appearing 
in  1830 ;  in  1817  he  published  in  two  volumes,  in  French  and  Eng- 
lish, his  Digest  of  the  Territorial  and  State  Statutes,  later  known 
as  Martin's  Digest;  in  1827  he  published  his  "History  of  Loui- 
siana" in  two  volumes,  and  in  1829  a  "History  of  North  CaroHna" 
in  two  volumes,  as  we  have  seen.  His  total  literary  output  in 
North  Carolina  and  Louisiana  was  about  34  volumes,  for  he  was 


FRANQOIS-XAVIER  MARTIN  313 

one  of  those  rare  men,  says  Judge  Howe,  "to  whom  study,  obsti- 
nate toil  and  the  constant  exercise  of  the  thinking  faculty  were  the 
prime  necessities  of  life."  In  recognition  of  his  great  labors  he 
was  made  a  foreign  associate  member  of  the  Academy  of  Mar- 
seilles in  1817,  a  LL.D.  by  the  University  of  Nashville,  and  in 
1 84 1  the  same  degree  was  given  him  by  Harvard  University.  He 
died  in  New  Orleans  December  10,  1846,  and  was  buried  there. 

In  personal  appearance  Judge  Martin  was  below  the  medium 
height,  with  large  head,  a  Roman  nose  and  a  thick  neck. 
He  was  very  near-sighted  in  his  younger  days  and  totally 
blind  for  the  last  ten  years  of  his  life.  His  conversation 
was  entertaining  and  argumentative  and  he  was  fond  of  the 
Socratic  method.  He  was  always  shabbily  and  sometimes 
even  dirtily  dressed,  for  he  never  married,  having  the  temperament 
and  habits  of  a  miser  and  being  too  much  "absorbed  in  the  study 
of  law  and  the  practice'  of  parsimony."  He  left  a  fortune  inven- 
toried at  $396,841.17,  and  worth,  perhaps,  half  a  million.  It  was 
left  by  will  to  his  brother,  Paul  Barthelmy  Martin,  who  had  come 
out  from  France  a  few  years  before.  The  State  brought  suit  to 
break  the  will,  claiming  two  things  :  ( i ) .  That  the  will  was  void 
as  a  legal  and  physical  possibility,  for  it  was  in  olographic  form 
and  unwitnessed,  and  could  not  have  been  written  by  a  blind  man ; 
(2).  That  if  not  void  for  that  reason,  it  was  void  as  an  attempted 
fraud  on  the  fiscal  rights  of  the  State,  since  it  was  claimed  that 
Paul  B.  Martin  was  to  distribute  this  property  among  heirs  living 
in  France,  and  the  State  required  a  10%  tax  on  bequests  going  to 
foreign  legatees.  The  contentions  of  the  State  were  defeated  in 
the  Supreme  Court,  and  after  the  death  of  the  brother  a  large 
share  of  the  estate  did  go  to  a  niece  living  in  southern  France  who, 
because  of  her  goodness,  was  known  as  the  Providence  of  the 
community  where  she  resided. 

No  juster  tribute  can  be  written  of  Frangois-Xavier  Martin  than 
that  of  Judge  Howe  in  the  close  of  his  sketch,  who  speaks  of  him 
as  a  man  "who  was  truly  honest,  who  was  soundly  learned,  and 
who  above  all  made  his  laborious  life  of  lasting  value  to  the 
world." 


314 


NORTH  CAROLINA 


This  sketch  is  based  on  the  appreciative  sketches  of  Judge  Howe 
and  Judge  Bullard,  mentioned  at  the  beginning  of  this  paper ;  on 
my  "Press  in  North  CaroHna  in  the  i8th  Century;"  on  my  "South- 
ern Quakers  and  Slavery,"  and  on  the  notes  for  my  BibHography 
of  North  Carolina.  There  is  a  portrait  of  Martin  in  the  second 
edition  to  his  "History  of  Louisiana"  (New  Orleans,  1882),  and  a 
marble  bust  belongs  to  the  Supreme  Court  of  that  State. 

Stephen  B.  Weeks. 


£^aS£.  T^37iM7pp0n,IiiMisAsr 


12  ■^-  W*^ 


^^'-^^, 


(aNR\   C.  M.,orr 


>?E" 


liighlan:-    .Ji    Scotland     they    acjli;  '     ■     h     tisc 
ca:;-'.'  of  Oiarle-^  Edward,  the    ir'i-ctc;.  i-  ■/    '.-.-Ui 
lq\a!  a£i<}  r>'iiiantic  vaior,  and  wiu-i.  '<■:-.  :,n;;  ivf"* 
■rt'ver  on  ilif  ;.'!.<'■  held  o!  Cullodea  many  ol  titc'~i  iei't  li.i 
picture  •••■lie  -f-eiu-ry  \\hicii  surrminded  their  ■  .rly  h>.-i'  ■  - 


;  rated  to  Arncr, 


Viaontr  the  ir.:-t  of  this  m-tirjl)(e;- 


fcOueen,  from  wp'jin  Henry  ',.     McQue^^^  is  'mr;!;';;. 
His  father  was  Ed.m-and  McQueen,  a  ''i  y-ic  •'     ■;  .-ini- 
.iraoter  and^ respected  by  his  coiitMii  '.!:.!if5  -..mJ  as-3;'w"!ftt*'» 

;he  first  mayor ~of  the  town  of  Ltmiijer  :■>)!.     End"«r*'-T!  '"'. 

';'   a  resolute  spirit  and  unflinchin.c  cvtnrii^c.  He  ;.?;•->>.'!•. 

,.  .:i'..'S>.  of  heart  an'!  unfailiiig  intr"  u  v  e:-.<enVrf;  t-*  Si>;' 
/r  aiid  lofty  |)n'-p(.';f.  A  sense  of  dv.l.  aixu  :-r?.);i'-«:.i  -s? 
■■>j-i^^;!r,re<l  tile  sprinjT  of  allhis  acti<.n;-      Hi-,  .•I'Mi^.j  ■  i>.ffe 


.  who  was  :.f  a  Nc-w  York  faniilv  km  v 
-  i'ities  and  mora!  ■.iru'r.^-,  :_•'■!  ro  !;f,« 
,.ited    i>n  ever  atiri'nr.'l  niuch  !>^  (!■• 
■n  the  towTi  of  ! .uniberti-'    '!)  i!'-.-  rm--;,- 
1  arolina,  on  th?  I'li'i  liay  of  Iv.ly    1"^^ 
'  ■  h  ■•j'i  \vev..  spent  i;i  thf-  sitit«';;  ■  *.  '.. 
■ynt  fo  the  HiiUhor--  ".i, .;-•:, 


HENRY  c.  McQueen 

JHE  family  of  McQueens  from  whom  the  subject 
of  this  sketch  is  descended  on  the  paternal  side 
is  distinguished  and  widely  extended.  In  the 
Highlands  of  Scotland  they  adhered  to  the 
cause  of  Charles  Edward,  the  Pretender,  with 
loyal  and  romantic  valor,  and  when  his  sun  went 
down  forever  on  the  fatal  field  of  CuUoden  many  of  them  left  the 
wild  and  picturesque  scenery  which  surrounded  their  early  homes 
and  emigrated  to  America.  Among  the  first  of  this  number  was 
James  AIcQueen,  from  whom  Henry  C.  McQueen  is  lineally  de- 
scended. His  father  was  Edmund  McQueen,  a  physician  of  emi- 
nent character  and  respected  by  his  contemporaries  and  associates. 
He  was  the  first  mayor  of  the  town  of  Lumberton.  Endowed  by 
nature  with  a  resolute  spirit  and  unflinching  courage,  he  possessed 
that  singleness  of  heart  and  unfailing  integrity  essential  to  high 
character  and  lofty  purpose.  A  sense  of  duty  and  sentiment  of 
honor  constituted  the  spring  of  all  his  actions.  His  mother  was 
Susan  Moore,  who  was  of  a  New  York  family  known  alike  for  its 
intellectual  qualities  and  moral  virtues,  and  to  his  mother's  guid- 
ance her  devoted  son  ever  attributed  much  of  his  success  in  life. 
He  was  born  in  the  town  of  Lumberton  in  the  county  of  Robeson, 
State  of  North  Carolina,  on  the  i6th  day  of  July,  1846.  The  early 
days  of  his  boyhood  were  spent  in  the  schools  of  his  native  town, 
and  later  he  was  sent  to  the  Hillsboro  Military  Academy  and  af- 


3i6  NORTH  CAROLINA 

terward  to  the  famous  Bingham  School  at  "The  Oaks"  in  Orange 
County.  He  passed  his  vacations  and  holiday  seasons  in  pastimes 
and  sports  not  unlike  those  enjoyed  by  others  in  his  own  station  in 
life.  He  hunted  in  the  swamps  and  everglades  of  Robeson  County 
and  fished  in  its  bright  and  golden  waters  which  ever  delight  the 
eye  of  the  traveller,  and  which  can  be  found  only  in  the  region 
where  the  cypress  abounds. 

The  section  in  which  he  was  born  was  intensely  devoted  to  the 
fortunes  of  the  South  in  the  war  between  the  States,  and  he  inherit- 
ed strongly  this  sentiment  with  an  abiding  faith  in  the  justice  of 
its  cause.  Animated  by  the  martial  spirit  of  the  race  from  which 
he  sprung,  he  enlisted  while  a  lad  in  the  Confederate  Army,  and 
was  attached  to  and  became  a  member  of  the  First  North  Carolina 
Battery  of  Artillery.  The  boy  soldier,  whether  in  camp,  on  the 
march,  or  upon  the  field  of  battle,  won  the  affection  and  admira- 
tion of  his  comrades  by  the  faithful  and  conscientious  discharge 
of  every  duty  which  devolved  upon  him.  On  the  15th  day  of 
January,  1865,  his  career  as  a  soldier  was  brought  to  an  end  by  the 
capture  of  Fort  Fisher,  when  he  was  wounded  and  made  prisoner. 
He  was  detained  by  the  Federal  authorities  until  the  close  of  the 
war,  which  soon  followed  this  event  so  calamitous  to  the  fortunes 
of  the  Southern  Confederacy,  yet  so  honorable  to  its  glory.  Upon 
his  return  home,  towards  the  close  of  1865,  from  a  military  prison, 
he  was  penniless  and  his  friends  and  family  were  in  like  condition. 
However,  he  was  not  helpless  nor  did  he  despair.  He  inherited 
from  his  father  not  only  the  hereditary  physical  courage  and  firm- 
ness of  his  race,  but  from  both  father  and  mother  what  is  far  more 
enduring  and  important,  that  moral  firmness  of  an  exalted  nature 
which  enabled  him,  regardless  of  self,  to  stand  for  the  right  and 
combat  the  wrong.  It  was  the  force  of  this  moral  power  which 
gave  him  strength  at  the  close  of  a  great  and  disastrous  war  to 
assume  with  cheerfulness  and  resolute  will  the  duties  and  respon- 
sibilities which  the  result  had  cast  upon  him. 

He  commenced  his  business  career  in  Wilmington,  North  Caro- 
lina, in  1866,  and  it  has  been  one  of  uninterrupted  honor  and  suc- 
cess.    He  is  a  member  of  the  firm  of  Murchison  and  Company, 


HENRY  c.  McQueen  317 

distinguished  for  its  fair  dealing  and  without  blemish  or  stain. 
He  has  served  two  terms  as  president  of  the  Produce  Exchange 
of  the  city  of  Wilmington,  now  known  as  the  Chamber  of  Com- 
merce. Since  1898  he  has  been  a  member  of  the  Board  of  Audit 
and  Finance  of  the  city  of  Wilmington,  and  has  been  its  chair- 
man since  1896.  This  board  has  entire  control  of  the  finances  of 
the  city.  In  1899  he  originated  and  carried  through  to  complete 
success  a  plan  by  which  a  large  portion  of  the  debt  of  the  city,  al- 
though not  due  for  many  years,  and  bearing  a  greater  rate  of  in- 
terest, was  refunded  at  four  per  cent,  saving  many  thousand  dol- 
lars, reducing  its  obligations  materially  and  enhancing  its  credit, 
while  large  sums  at  the  same  time  have  been  expended  upon  im- 
provements. During  the  same  period  he  has  been  commissioner 
of  the  sinking  fund  of  the  city  of  Wilmington,  and  his  name  is  in- 
dissolubly  connected  with  its  financial  honor  and  success  during 
an  era  which  taxed  the  courage  and  ability  of  the  bravest  and  best. 
In  March,  1899,  the  Murchison  National  Bank  of  the  city  of 
Wilmington  was  organized.  Its  founders  were  strong  men, 
skilled  in  finance  and  thoroughly  conversant  with  the  business  in- 
terests of  the  country  at  large,  as  well  as  of  their  own  immediate 
section.  With  one  accord  they  named  Henry  C.  McQueen  as  its 
President.  He  has  ever  executed  the  trust  which  was  confided  to 
him  with  unquestioned  integrity  and  with  rare  skill  and  ability. 
Its  success  has  been  remarkable  and  unexcelled  in  the  financial 
history  of  the  State.  To-day  not  a  single  bank  in  North  Caro- 
lina has  so  large  a  deposit  account,  and  none  is  held  in  higher  re- 
pute. From  the  day  when  its  doors  were  first  opened  for  business 
to  the  present  time  it  has  felt  the  lasting  impress  of  the  splendid 
financial  capacity  and  superior  management  of  its  first  and  only 
president.  Nor  has  the  success  of  that  other  great  financial  insti- 
tution of  Wilmington  always  under  his  guidance  and  control  been 
less  marked.  Organized  in  April,  1900,  the  People's  Saving  Bank 
reached  a  degree  of  prosperity  which  has  made  it  a  marvel  to  its 
friends  and  to  the  public.  He  has  been  for  many  years  a  member 
of  the  directory  of  the  Carolina  Insurance  Company  of  Wilming- 
ton, which  has  a  high  and  honorable  record.     He  was  one  of  the 


3i8  NORTH  CAROLINA 

organizers  of  the  Bank  of  Duplin  at  Wallace,  North  Carolina,  in 
1903,  and  became  its  president,  which  position  he  still  holds.  He 
is  actively  connected  with  various  other  important  enterprises  in 
Wilmington  and  its  vicinity. 

The  personality  of  Henry  C.  McQueen  is  most  attractive.  He 
combines  a  quiet  dignity  and  reserve  with  gentleness  and  courtesy. 
His  frankness  and  sincerity  at  once  enlist  confidence.  Perhaps 
the  most  marked  feature  of  his  character,  next  to  his  moral  firm- 
ness, is  his  unaffected  modesty,  which  has  endeared  him  to  his  asso- 
ciates and  won  for  him  universal  respect  wherever  he  is  known. 
In  his  intercourse  with  his  fellow-men  he  is  singularly  free  from 
selfishness,  and  his  chief  incentive  in  the  struggle  of  life  has  been 
a  supreme  sense  of  duty  and  tender  attachment  for  his  wife  and 
children.  His  success  has  been  won  without  willful  wrong  to 
any  one  of  his  fellow-men  and  without  self-abasement  or  compro- 
mise of  right.  Above  all  he  is  a  consistent  Christian  with  an  abid- 
ing faith  in  the  life  to  come  and  an  absolute  confidence  in  its  im- 
mortalit)'.  He  has  been  for  many  years  a  member  of  the  First 
Presbyterian  Church  of  Wilmington,  and  since  1898  has  been 
chairman  of  its  Board  of  Deacons. 

He  was  married  on  the  9th  day  of  November,  1871,  to  Miss 
Mary  Agnes  Hall  of  Fayetteville,  North  Carolina,  a  woman  whose 
Christian  virtues  and  gentle  heart  made  her  the  charm  and  delight 
of  the  circle  in  which  she  moved.  She  was  the  daughter  of  Avon 
E.  Hall,  a  merchant  of  high  repute.  The  maiden  name  of  her 
mother  was  Margaret  Bell,  a  most  accomplished  lady,  whose 
father  was  a  distinguished  architect.  From  the  time  of  their  mar- 
riage until  her  death  in  January,  1904,  their  home  was  one  long 
happy  dream  where  discord  was  unknown.  It  was  embellished 
by  the  generous  hospitality  of  a  gentleman,  the  benevolence  of 
Christianity,  and  that  unaffected  kindness  to  all  which  ever  at- 
tracts those  of  gentle  birth  and  honorable  ancestry.  Its  simplicity 
was  the  reflex  of  the  refined  and  quiet  life  which  Mrs.  Mary  Agnes 
McQueen  had  always  led.  It  had  been  a  life  filled  with  the  sweet- 
ness of  kind  and  generous  deeds. 

Charles  M.  Stedman. 


~i^  t<j  £  & 'M7/iams    E'S'-a    N^^ 


^^e^^ 


^..-'-'y^'Ze^i^Y  cy^''^-^y&^'T^-->Cif'-'<^ . 


NEREUS     MENDENHALL 


'  N  1759  James  Mendenhall  of  Pennsylvania  set- 
tled on  the  banks  of  Deep  River,  purchased  a 
tract  of  land  of  Earl  Granville,  and  founded  a 
village,  subsequently  named  Jamestown  by  his 
son  George.  James  moved  further  south,  set- 
tling finally  in  Georgia. 
George  Mendenhall  married  Judith  Gardner.  Among  the  chil- 
dren born  from  this  marriage  were  the  distinguished  lawyer, 
George  C.  Mendenhall,  and  Richard,  who  was  the  father  of  Dr. 
Nereus  Mendenhall,  the  subject  of  this  sketch. 

His  mother  was  Mary  Pegg,  a  woman  of  remarkable  beauty, 
industry,  and  strength  of  character.  The  home  which  Richard 
built  stands  in  Jamestown,  and  was  noted  for  the  generous  hos- 
pitality which  reigned  therein  through  a  long  and  interesting  pe- 
riod of  North  Carolina  history.  Statesman  and  philanthropist, 
men  of  almost  every  nationality  and  every  phase  of  humanity, 
from  a  commodore  to  a  street  beggar,  have  there  found  food  and 
shelter.  Richard  Mendenhall  was  a  man  of  excellent  intellectual 
ability,  sterling  integrity  of  character,  and  a  leading  member  of 
the  Society  of  Friends  in  North  Carolina. 

Nereus  was  the  fourth  child  in  this  home,  and  was  born  on  the 
14th  of  August,  1819.  His  father  considered  it  his  duty  to 
provide  for  the  education  of  his  children,  and  saw  that  a  good 
school  was  maintained  for  his  own  and  for  the  children  of  the 


320  NORTH  CAROLINA 

neighborhood.  Nereiis  early  showed  remarkable  mental  power, 
and  learned  his  lessons  with  such  ease  and  quickness  that  his  in- 
structor, the  well-known  Andy  Caldwell,  "did  not  see  when  that 
boy  learned;  he  did  not  study  hard." 

His  love  of  learning  displayed  itself  in  his  boyhood  days.  He 
and  his  two  brothers,  Cyrus  Pegg  and  Richard  Junius,  were  ex- 
pected to  cultivate  the  large  garden.  Nereus's  part  was  always 
well  done;  and  when  rest  time  came  and  the  other  boys  sought 
the  street  and  marbles,  he  climbed  to  a  seat  he  had  prepared  in  the 
large  fig  tree  and  read  his  books.  The  thoughtful  boy  with  his 
deep  blue  eyes  full  of  wonder,  poring  over  the  learning  of  the 
ages,  the  fig  leaves  shutting  him  in  from  the  sun  and  from  the 
passers-by,  presents  a  picture  which  foreshadows  his  future  life. 

At  the  age  of  thirteen  he  was  sent  to  Greensboro  to  learn  the 
printer's  trade,  and  was  intimately  associated  with  Lyndon  Swaim, 
whom  he  ever  afterwards  held  in  the  highest  esteem.  He  worked 
faithfully  at  his  trade  and  saved  his  money  to  pay  his  way  at 
Haverford  College,  Pennsylvania,  which  institution  he  entered  in 
1837.  He  entered  the  freshman  class  and  did  two  years'  work  in 
one ;  and  in  one  year  more  he  performed  the  work  in  the  junior  and 
senior  years,  graduating  in  1839  at  the  head  of  his  class.  Al- 
though the  regulations  at  Haverford  were  much  more  strict  than 
we  should  find  at  a  similar  institution  to-day,  Nereus  Mendenhall 
passed  through  his  course  without  the  violation  of  any  rule,  and  by 
his  unswerving  devotion  to  truth  and  righteousness,  as  well  as  by 
his  brilliant  intellectual  powers,  attracted  the  attention  of  the 
faculty  and  board  of  managers,  and  drew  to  himself  their  life-long 
affection  and  respect. 

To  show  that  his  spiritual  life  kept  pace  with  his  mental  develop- 
ment the  following  testimony  is  given,  which  Dr.  Mendenhall  near 
the  close  of  his  life  gave  to  his  classmate  and  devoted  friend, 
Doctor  Richard  Randolph,  of  Philadelphia : 

"The  revelation  which  in  my  little  dormitory  at  Haverford  came  to 
me  when  a  student  there,  as  alone  at  the  narrow  window  I  read 
Psalm   XXXIV   10 :     'The  young  lions   do  lack  and   suffer  hunger,   but 


NEREUS  MENDENHALL  321 

they  that  seek  the  Lord  shall  not  want  for  any  good  thing,'  however 
unable  at  some  times  to  see  how  it  is  true,  from  that  time  to  this  I 
have  never  relinquished  nor  ceased  to  cherish." 

In  1845  he  graduated  at  the  Jefferson  Medical  College  in 
Philadelphia.  He  was  successful  in  the  practice  of  medicine,  but 
his  health  could  not  stand  the  strain  arising  from  his  sympathy 
with  human  suffering.  He  therefore  gave  up  the  practice  and 
was  employed  as  principal  of  New  Garden  Boarding  School, 
founded  by  the  Friends  of  North  Carolina,  and  opened  in  1837. 

As  an  instructor  Dr.  Mendenhall  soon  became  famous.  His 
knowledge  of  all  branches  of  learning  was  profound  and  his  clear 
insight  into  character,  mental  and  spiritual,  naturally  fitted  him  to 
adapt  his  instruction  to  the  student's  capacity.  Under  his  system 
of  teaching,  so  thorough  as  to  give  a  lasting  reputation  to  New 
Garden  School,  the  institution  flourished;  and  many  young  men 
and  women  from  him  received  an  inspiration  which  led  not  only 
to  more  extended  study  elsewhere,  but  to  an  appreciation  of  the 
benefits  of  education  that  in  many  cases  has  marked  the  career  of 
his  pupils,  and  made  them  standard-bearers  in  educational  work 
in  this  and  in  many  other  States. 

In  185 1  Dr.  Mendenhall  was  married  to  Oriana  Wilson,  a 
woman  of  quick  discernment,  excellent  judgment  and  warm  sym- 
pathy with  all  who  from  any  cause  were  in  need.  Her  devotion 
to  her  husband  during  a  period  of  enfeebled  health  was  most 
marked,  and  doubtless  was  instrumental  in  his  restoration. 

Finding  the  confinement  incidental  to  the  profession  of  teaching 
too  taxing  on  his  health,  he  gave  up  his  place  at  New  Garden 
School  and  became  a  civil  engineer,  for  which  his  decided  mathe- 
matical genius  specially  fitted  him ;  and  his  work  in  the  survey  of 
many  of  the  railroads  in  the  State  and  in  South  Carolina  proved 
of  great  service.  Notably  was  this  the  case  in  the  location  of  the 
road  from  Salisbury  to  Asheville. 

Whatever  his  occupation,  he  was  successful.  This  was  due  to 
his  minute  knowledge  of  details  and  to  his  persistent  effort.  He 
yet  found  time  for  study,  and  while  on  surveys  difficult  and  labo- 
rious read  much  in  almost  every  field  of  learning.     The  Latin  Ian- 


322  NORTH  CAROLINA 

guage  he  read  with  great  ease.  He  also  possessed  an  accurate 
knowledge  of  Greek  and  Hebrew,  both  of  which  languages  he 
studied  largely  for  the  sake  of  better  understanding  the  Bible,  of 
which  he  was  a  life-long  student.  He  subscribed  to  the  great 
English  Reviews  and  read  them  eagerly.  His  mind  was  full  of 
questioning,  and  at  one  period  tossed  by  doubts  which  nearly 
every  thoughtful  mind  encounters  in  greater  or  less  degree.  The 
result  of  investigation  always  brought  him  to  a  sure  basis,  and  like 
Whittier, 

"To  one  firm  faith  his  spirit  clung, 
He  knew  that  God  was  good." 

In  i860,  through  the  urgent  request  of  the  trustees  of  New  Gar- 
den School,  Dr.  Mendenhall  returned  as  principal  and  remained  as 
such  through  the  stormy  days  of  the  Civil  War.  In  all  that  time 
the  school  was  maintained.  Dr.  Mendenhall  by  inheritance,  by 
education,  and  from  his  own  profound  reflection  was  opposed  to 
slavery,  and  if  any  question  of  righteousness  was  involved,  never 
hesitated  to  say  so.  As  a  member  of  the  Friends'  Church  he  was 
also  opposed  to  war.  He  therefore  had  to  encounter  a  double- 
headed  evil  during  the  struggle  which  ended  in  the  freedom  of  the 
slaves.  While  he  disapproved  of  withdrawing  from  the  Union, 
and  the  establishment  of  the  Southern  Confederacy,  the  ways  of 
the  Reconstructionists  of  1867  were  so  repulsive  to  him  that  he 
gave  his  sympathy  and  support  to  the  Democracy  of  the  State,  and 
was  elected  twice  by  the  Democratic  Party  to  the  State  Legisla- 
ture, where  his  wide  information  and  deep  interest  in  the  educa- 
tional and  in  every  other  interest  of  the  State  made  him  a  most 
valuable  member. 

Dr.  Mendenhall  was  a  prominent  member  of  the  commission  ap- 
pointed by  the  State  for  the  location  and  construction  of  the  hos- 
pital at  Morganton.  His  knowledge  as  a  physician  of  the  re- 
quirements of  such  an  institution,  his  marked  ability  as  a  civil  en- 
gineer, and  his  excellent  judgment  of  material  and  work,  made 
his  services  for  the  State  on  such  a  commission  invaluable.  The 
full  board  was  composed  of  Governor  Graham,  Dr.  Mendenhall, 


NEREUS  MENDENHALL  323 

Captain  Denson,  Dr.  Whitehead,  Dr.  Grissom,  and  Thomas  G. 
Walton.  They  laid  the  foundations  broad  and  deep,  such  that  fu- 
ture builders  would  have  to  build  upon  them,  and  acted  in  much 
wisdom  with  everything  that  was  connected  with  the  beginning 
of  the  institution.  They  spent  one-third  of  the  original  appro- 
priation to  obtain  a  supply  of  pure  water  from  the  mountains. 
They  even  went  so  far  as  to  purchase  the  watershed  from  which 
the  supply  was  obtained.  Future  generations  will  bless  the  men 
who  did  this  noble  work. 

The  late  Mr.  James  Walker  of  Wilmington,  the  contractor,  a 
native  Scotchman,  a  stone  mason  by  trade,  a  competent  and  hon- 
est man,  repeatedly  stated  that  the  leading  spirit  in  all  this  was 
Dr.  Nereus  Mendenhall. 

In  1876  he  received  an  appointment  as  a  member  of  the  faculty 
of  the  Penn  Charter  School  in  the  city  of  Philadelphia,  where  he 
spent  two  years.  He  was  then  made  a  member  of  the  faculty  of 
Haverford  College  and  taught  two  years  in  his  Alma  Mater.  His 
health  did  not  permit  him  to  continue  longer  in  the  schoolroom. 
While  there  he  was  elected  alumni  orator ;  and  being  always  deeply 
interested  in  religious  questions,  he  prepared  an  address  in  which 
he  expressed  the  results  of  his  investigation  in  science,  literature, 
and  religious  history,  so  far  as  these  subjects  relate  to  faith  and 
practical  religion. 

In  religious  belief  he  was  a  Friend,  though  tolerant  towards  all 
denominations  and  beliefs.  After  much  reflection  and  research, 
the  Christian  doctrine  and  philosophy  preached  by  George  Fox 
and  expounded  by  Robert  Barclay  and  William  Penn  he  fully  in- 
dorsed, and  believed  that  these  eminent  Friends  promulgated  in 
its  essence  the  doctrine  of  primitive  Christianity. 

Though  in  feeble  health  the  last  few  years  of  his  life.  Dr.  Men- 
denhall maintained  to  the  end  a  deep  interest  in  all  matters  per- 
taining to  the  welfare  of  his  fellow-men,  and  was  specially  in- 
terested in  education  and  in  religious  philosophy.  He  was  for 
many  years  the  chairman  of  the  board  of  education  of  Guilford 
County  and  held  that  position  at  the  time  of  his  death. 

His  interest  in  the  Bible  never  abated.     He  kept  the  English 


324  NORTH  CAROLINA 

Bible  and  a  copy  of  the  Greek  New  Testament  by  his  bedside  dur- 
ing his  last  illness,  and  evinced  to  those  who  were  interested  in 
Biblical  scholarship  his  acquaintance  with  the  latest  investigation 
and  interpretation  of  modern  scholars.  He  welcomed  research, 
whether  in  science  or  in  history  or  in  Biblical  literature,  and  had 
no  fear  of  the  results  of  modern  scholarship  on  the  proper  rela- 
tion of  the  Bible  to  Christianity.  Indeed,  it  had  long  been  his  be- 
lief that  no  interpretation  of  the  Bible  could  set  aside  a  well-es- 
tablished scientific  fact,  and  he  rejoiced  to  see  the  renewed  interest 
in  Bible  study  and  religious  questions  which  has  grown  out  of  the 
doctrine  of  evolution  and  the  consequent  idea  of  progression  in 
religious  history. 

In  the  beautiful  autumn  days  of  1893  his  life  gradually  ebbed 
away,  and  October  the  29th  at  sunset  his  spirit  passed  to  the 
"upper  room." 

Dr.  Mendenhall  knew  almost  all  forms  under  which  the  human 
worships  the  divine,  and  welcomed  light  from  every  source.  From 
all  his  study  he  came  back  with  Whittier  "to  what  he  learned  be- 
side his  mother's  knee — 'All  is  of  God  that  is  and  is  to  be,  and  God 
is  good.'  " 

From  the  poems  of  Whittier  he  gained  much  consolation,  often 
remarking,  "He  has  traveled  over  the  same  ground."  The  poet's 
conclusions  were  very  gratifying  to  him,  and  these  lines  from  the 
"Shadow  and  the  Light"  were  often  upon  his  lips : 

"Nor  bound  nor  clime  nor  creed  Thou  know'st, 
Wide  as  our  needs  Thy  favors  fall, 
The  white  wings  of  the  Holy  Ghost 

Stoop  seen  or  unseen  o'er  the  heads  of  all." 

/,.  L.  Hobbs. 


ROBERT   JOHNSTONE  MILLER 

•OBERT  JOHNSTONE  MILLER,  third  son  of 
George  and  Margaret  Bathier  Miller,  born  at 
Baldovie,  near  Dundee,  Scotland,  July  ii, 
1758,  and  reared  in  the  "Jacobite"  Episcopal 
Church,  under  the  ministry  of  the  venerable 
Bishop  Rait  of  Brechin,  was  designed  for  the 
ministry  and  sent  to  "the  classical  school"  at  Dundee ;  but  in  1774 
came  to  America  upon  invitation  of  an  elder  brother,  a  prosperous 
East  and  West  India  merchant  in  Charlestown,  Mass. 

When  the  Revolutionary  struggle  began  he  declared  himself  a 
friend  of  liberty,  joined  General  Greene's  army  when  it  passed 
through  Boston,  and  took  part  in  the  battles  of  Long  Island, 
Brandywine  and  White  Plains,  in  the  first  of  which  he  received  a 
severe  flesh  wound  in  the  face.  He  was  with  the  army  during  the 
dreadful  winter  at  Valley  Forge.  He  came  South,  probably 
when  Washington  made  his  famous  campaign  on  Cornwallis,  and 
was  in  Virginia  near  Yorktown  when  mustered  out  of  the  service. 
He  settled  in  Southside,  Virginia,  near  Bute  County,  later  Frank- 
lin County,  North  Carolina. 

In  1785,  through  the  instrumentality  of  Dr.  Coke,  he  joined  a 
Conference  held  in  Franklin  County  and  become  a  Methodist 
preacher  on  Tar  River  circuit.  Disapproving  the  policy  of  sep- 
aration from  the  Church  of  England,  however,  he  withdrew 
from  the  Methodist  Society  in  about  one  year. 


326  NORTH  CAROLINA 

His  health  faihng  in  1786,  he  removed  to  Whitehaven,  Lincoln 
County,  where  he  became  lay-reader  to  a  congregation  of  Church 
of  England  people,  who  chose  church  wardens  and  elected  a  ves- 
try. Here,  greatly  respected  and  beloved,  he  became  their  pastor, 
save  in  the  matter  of  administering  the  sacraments,  which  they 
received  at  the  hands  of  a  Lutheran  minister  who  lived  in  the 
vicinity.  Quite  naturally  Mr.  Miller  was  also  teacher  of  a  "classi- 
cal school."  During  eight  years  that  this  relationship  existed  he 
became  intimately  acquainted  with  this  Lutheran  minister  and  his 
clerical  brethren  in  Rowan,  Guilford  and  Randolph.  To  aid  in 
counteracting  a  prevalent  evil  (indiscriminate  preaching  by  un- 
authorized persons),  Mr.  Miller,  urged  by  his  congregation  and 
advised  by  the  Presbyterian  clergy,  agreed  to  accept  ordination  of 
the  Lutherans,  distinctly  reserving  his  Episcopalian  beliefs. 

On  May  20,  1794,  he  was  ordained,  and  in  his  letter  of  orders 
was  held  to  be  "obliged  to  obey  ye  rules,  ordinances  and  customs 
of  ye  Christian  Society  called  ye  Protestant  Episcopal  Church  in 
America."  At  this  time  efforts  were  made  to  organize  the  Epis- 
copal Church  in  North  Carolina.  Mr.  Miller  had  been  elected  a 
member  of  the  standing  committee  by  the  Tarboro  convention  of 
November  21,  1793.  He  attended  the  Tarboro  convention  of  May 
28,  1794,  as  a  clerical  member,  read  the  morning  service  on  the 
second  day  of  the  convention,  voted  with  the  other  clergy  for 
Bishop,  and  signed  as  one  of  the  clergy  the  certification  of  Rev. 
Charles  Pettigrew's  election  as  Bishop.  Dr.  Pettigrew  was  never 
consecrated,  and  it  was  twenty-one  years  before  another  Episcopal 
convention  was  held  in  North  Carolina. 

During  this  period  Mr.  Miller's  work  naturally  followed  along 
Lutheran  courses.  Secretary  of  the  Synod  in  1803  and  1804, 
president  in  1812,  author  of  the  Constitution  adopted  by  the  Synod 
of  1803  upon  the  lines  laid  down  by  the  Episcopal  General  Con- 
vention, and  as  a  laborious  missionary  among  them,  he  was  a 
leading  spirit  in  the  Synod.  Dr.  Bernheim,  the  Lutheran  his- 
torian, magnanimously  says :  "Our  Church  owes  a  debt  of  grati- 
tude to  his  memory  which  cannot  be  cancelled  or  forgotten." 

On  March  12,  1787,  Mr.  Miller  married  Mary  Perkins,  daugh- 


ROBERT  JOHNSTONE  MILLER  327 

ter  of  John  Perkins,  Esq.,  of  Lincoln,  whose  wedding  gift  to  his 
daughter  was  a  fine  plantation  in  Burke,  two  miles  from  Lenoir 
(now  in  Caldwell  County),  which  Mr.  Miller  named  "Mary's 
Grove"  in  honor  of  his  wife.  Hither  he  moved  from  Whitehaven 
in  1806,  whence  his  work  with  the  Lutherans  continued  until  1821. 
Without  receiving,  asking  for  or  expecting  salary,  he  labored  in- 
cessantly, serving  his  charges  at  Whitehaven,  Smyrna  and  St. 
Peter's  in  Lincoln,  St.  Michael's  in  Iredell,  Christ  Church  in 
Rowan,  and  Trinity  in  Burke,  besides  making  long  journeyings 
into  other  States.  To  illustrate  the  extent  of  his  missionary 
tours  beyond  the  State,  one  made  in  181 1  may  be  noted,  when  he 
traversed  South  Carolina,  the  present  State  of  West  Virginia,  the 
Shenandoah  Valley  of  Virginia,  and  the  eastern  part  of  Tennes- 
see, travelling  3000  miles,  baptizing  2  adults  and  60  children, 
preaching  67  times,  and  receiving  $70.44  for  his  support  without 
asking  for  a  cent!     He  was  absent  on  this  journey  four  months. 

In  1817  the  Episcopal  Church  was  organized  in  North  Carolina 
and,  at  a  convention  held  in  Raleigh,  April  28,  1821,  Bishop 
Moore,  of  Virginia,  presiding,  Mr.  Miller  presented  his  letter  of 
Lutheran  orders  and  on  May  ist  was  ordained  a  deacon  and  ad- 
vanced to  the  priesthood.  The  hopes  of  his  youth  were  realized, 
but  he  was  now  an  old  man  and  the  best  years  of  his  life  had  been 
given  to  Lutheranism.  It  was  the  misfortune  of  Episcopacy  and 
not  his  fault  that  his  missionary  labors  of  thirty  years  had  not 
been  performed  for  his  own  church.  In  1823  John  Stark  Ravens- 
croft  was  made  the  first  Bishop  of  North  Carolina  and  rested  from 
his  labors  in  1830.  He  was  succeeded  by  Bishop  Ives.  Mr.  Mil- 
ler served  under  both  Bishops. 

His  bodily  strength  gradually  decayed  with  increasing 
years  until  May  13,  1834,  when  he  fell  on  sleep.  He  was  buried 
in  the  family  graveyard  at  "Mary's  Grove." 

"Parson"  Miller,  as  he  was  universally  called  in  his  later  years, 
was  by  tradition  accounted  an  eloquent,  earnest  and  effective 
preacher.  His  sermons,  many  of  which  have  been  preserved, 
prove  him  to  have  been  a  man  of  deep  piety,  learning  and  culture. 

W.  W.  Scott. 


WILLIAM    MILLER 


HE  evanescence  of  earthly  fame  is  well  illus- 
trated by  the  career  of  William  Miller,  some- 
time Governor  of  North  Carolina,  for  little  can 
we  now  learn  of  his  life  save  by  reference  to  the 
works  wherein  his  public  actions  are  recorded. 
He  was  a  citizen  of  the  County  of  Warren, 
and  in  1802  (if  not  earlier)  was  a  student  at  the  University  of 
North  Carolina.  He  entered  upon  the  study  of  law,  and  was  later 
licensed  to  practise.  By  1810  he  had  won  a  high  place  at  the  bar 
and  was  appointed  Attorney-General  of  North  Carolina  to  succeed 
the  Honorable  Oliver  Fitts,  who  had  resigned.  Mr.  Miller's  com- 
mission as  attorney-general  having  expired  in  the  year  he  received 
his  appointment,  he  was  elected  to  represent  Warren  County  in  the 
lower  house  of  the  General  Assembly  which  met  on  the  19th  of 
November,  1810.  He  was  also  a  member  of  the  House  of  Com- 
mons of  the  State  in  the  years  181 1,  1812,  1813  and  1814.  At 
the  sessions  of  1812,  1813  and  1814  he  was  Speaker  of  the  House. 
During  his  service  as  Speaker  in  the  session  of  1814  he  was  elect- 
ed Governor  of  North  Carolina  on  the  30th  of  November,  and 
took  the  oath  of  office  a  few  days  later,  on  December  7th. 

At  the  time  of  Governor  Miller's  entrance  upon  his  duties  as 
chief  magistrate,  the  second  war  with  Great  Britain  was  in  its  last 
stages.  On  December  24,  1814,  the  treaty  of  peace  was  signed  at 
Ghent;  but,  owing  to  the  slow  means  of  travel  at  that  time,  the 


WILLIAM  MILLER  329 

news  was  some  weeks  in  reaching  America,  and  hostilities  con- 
tinued in  the  meantime.  The  bloody  battle  of  New  Orleans,  as  is 
well  known,  occurred  two  weeks  after  the  contending  countries 
had  agreed  to  cease  hostilities.  When  the  General  Assembly  of 
1 81 5  met.  Governor  Miller  in  his  official  message  (November 
22d)  referred  with  pride  to  the  outcome  of  the  war,  saying: 

"The  names  of  Niagara,  Champlain,  Plattsburg,  Baltimore  and  New 
Orleans  renew  ideas  precious  and  consolatory.  They  show  to  kings 
and  parasites  of  royalty  that  the  rights  of  man  are  the  precious  gifts 
of  Heaven.  In  fine,  the  war,  with  all  its  calamities,  has  illustrated  the 
capacity  of  the  United  States  to  be  a  great,  free,  and  flourishing 
nation.  It  has  put  to  flight  the  stale  objection  of  the  imbecility  of 
republics  for  warlike  operations,  and  furnishes  additional  evidence,  if 
any  were  wanting,  of  the  superior  capacity  of  freemen  for  the  exer- 
tion of  every  species  of  corporeal  and  mental  energy." 

At  the  southern  terminus  of  Fayetteville  street  in  the  city  of 
Raleigh  was  once  the  building  erected  for  a  governor's  mansion, 
which  in  1876  became  a  public  school  and  was  later  demolished  to 
make  room  for  a  more  modern  school  building.  The  erection  of 
the  old  mansion  was  begun  during  the  administration  of  Governor 
Hawkins,  but  Governor  Miller  (the  immediate  successor  of  Haw- 
kins) was  its  first  occupant.  The  present  mansion  in  Burke 
Square  at  Raleigh  was  begun  by  Governor  Jarvis,  but  not  com- 
pleted until  the  administration  of  Governor  Daniel  G.  Fowle. 

The  administration  of  Governor  Miller  ended  in  December, 
1817,  when  his  successor,  John  Branch,  was  inaugurated.  While 
serving  as  governor,  Mr.  Miller  was  ex-ofUcio  president  of  the 
board  of  trustees  of  the  University  of  North  Carolina.  In  1817, 
just  after  his  term  as  governor  had  expired,  the  Legislature  elected 
him  a  member  of  that  board,  and  he  remained  thereon  until  his 
death  nearly  ten  years  later. 

At  the  sessions  of  the  General  Assembly  of  1821  and  1822  Mr. 
Miller  served  as  State  Senator  from  the  county  of  Warren. 

At  the  session  of  the  Senate  of  1822  a  proposition  was  made  to 
establish  the  county  of  Davidson,  and  Governor  Miller,  with  a 


330  NORTH  CAROLINA 

broad  and  enlightened  spirit,  and  perhaps  recalHng  the  favors 
shown  him  by  the  Western  people,  voted  for  the  measure.  At 
the  succeeding  election  he  was  brought  forward  again  by  his 
friends  for  State  Senator,  but  now  a  great  clamor  was  raised 
against  him.  He  had  voted  to  establish  a  western  county !  That 
would  give  the  west  another  representative,  and  might  enable  the 
west  to  call  a  constitutional  convention;  and  by  the  same  vote 
that  a  convention  could  be  convened,  the  convention  could  be  con- 
trolled; and  "we  would  lose  our  Constitution."  Thus  it  was  that 
the  friends  of  General  M.  T.  Hawkins,  his  opponent,  pressed  the 
point  that  Governor  Miller  had  endangered  the  safety  of  the  east 
and  put  in  jeojardy  "our  Constitution."  The  opposition  engen- 
dered was  irresistible,  and  General  Miller  went  down  before  it. 
The  incident  serves  to  illustrate  a  phase  of  the  conflict  between  the 
east  and  the  west  that  was  in  progress  from  the  opening  of  the 
century,  that  led  to  the  holding  of  '"a  western  convention,"  with 
the  threat  to  break  the  State  in  twain,  and  which  was  continued 
with  great  bitterness  and  wrath  until  by  the  votes  of  Otway  Burns 
and  Judge  Gaston  the  convention  of  1835  was  called.  Even  then 
the  amendments  agreed  on  received  in  some  of  the  eastern  counties 
not  a  single  vote,  and  Otway  Burns,  the  popular  hero  of  his  peo- 
ple, was  never  again  honored  by  their  suffrages. 

Governor  Miller  being  rejected  by  his  county,  doubtless  suffered 
severe  mortification,  but  his  State  influence  was  not  lessened. 

On  the  incoming  of  the  new  administration  in  1825,  President 
John  Quincy  Adams  appointed  him  Charge  d'  Affaires  to  Guate- 
mala in  Central  America,  which  he  accepted. 

The  Raleigh  Register  of  July  15,  1825,  mentions  the  departure 
of  Governor  Miller  and  of  Dr.  Baker,  the  Secretary  of  Legation, 
saying :  "They  are  at  Norfolk,  whence  they  will  sail  in  a  few  days 
in  the  Government  vessel  'Decoy.'  " 

Governor  Miller,  however,  did  not  survive  his  arrival  in  Central 
America  many  months.  His  death  occurred  at  the  capital  city  of 
Guatemala  shortly  after  his  arrival,  about  the  opening  of  the  year 
1826. 

Marshall  De  Lancey  Haywood. 


z/^"/;  u^z/'a^^.-  ssrs  Ny^ 


C^^  Z,    K^  _\V/--^'  fu.b/is^:r 


JOHN    JAMES   MOTT 

SHE  Mott  family  is  of  Nova  Scotia  origin,  the 
founder  of  the  American  branch  having  been  a 
London  merchant  by  name  John,  who  removed 
before  the  revolt  of  the  Colonies  to  Halifax, 
continuing  business  there.  His  descendant,  the 
Rev.  Thomas  Smith  Webb  Mott,  was  the  father 
of  the  subject  of  this  article,  and  was  well  known  to  the  best 
people  of  North  Carolina  in  the  years  prior  to  the  Civil  War. 

As  a  priest  of  the  Protestant  Episcopal  Church  he  ministered 
to  various  charges  in  the  State,  and  it  was  while  rector  at  Hills- 
boro.  North  Carolina,  that  his  son,  Dr.  John  James  Mott,  was 
born  on  May  7,  1834. 

The  reverend  gentleman  afterwards  taught  a  high  school  at  his 
residence  on  Lower  Creek,  near  Lenoir,  North  Carolina,  and  pre- 
pared many  of  the  youths  of  the  Piedmont  section  for  college,  or 
for  the  struggles  of  life  where  a  college  education  was  denied.  He 
was  reputed  a  stern  commander,  rich  in  book  lore  and  enthusiastic 
in  his  calling.  Of  his  family  three  sons  became  physicians.  His 
wife  was  Miss  Susan  Arnanda  Phillips,  whose  strong  traits  of 
character  was  transmitted  to  her  sons,  as  it  is  an  accepted  theory 
that  from  the  female  side  boys  do  most  inherit.  The  influence  of 
his  father  was  also  a  marked  factor  in  determining  the  life  of  our 
subject,  since  no  stronger  man  has  ever  been  seen  in  the  Episco- 
pal priesthood  in  North  Carolina  than  the  Rev.  T.  S.  W.  Mott. 


332  NORTH  CAROLINA 

The  youth  of  Dr.  Mott  was  passed  at  his  paternal  home  in  the 
lovely  valley  of  Lower  Creek,  in  clear  view  of  those  beautiful 
twin  mountains,  Hawks  Bill  and  Table  Rock,  and  engaged  in  exer- 
cises best  fitted  to  make  a  strong  manhood.  Shooting,  hunting 
and  horseback  exercise  were  his  passionate  delight,  while  he  de- 
veloped a  fondness  for  flowers  and  animals  of  all  kinds  which  has 
never  forsaken  him,  and  which  in  his  later  years  has  served  to 
keep  old  age  green  and  flavor  it  with  a  spice  of  youth.  From  his 
father's  school  young  Mott  took  a  course  in  Catawba  College, 
Newton,  North  Carolina,  whence  to  prepare  himself  for  his  chosen 
profession  he  went  to  the  Jefferson  Medical  College  at  Philadel- 
phia. 

The  active  work  of  life  was  begun  in  1856  at  Beattie's  Ford, 
North  Carolina,  and  on  the  8th  of  July  of  that  year  he  married 
Miss  Theodosia  Caroline  Hendrix  of  the  Wilkes  County  family  of 
that  name.  To  them  were  born  nine  children,  of  whom  six  now 
survive,  one  of  these  being  the  very  brilHant  Marshal  L.  Mott, 
now  district  attorney  in  the  Indian  Territory. 

The  life  of  Dr.  Mott  in  the  years  succeeding  his  marriage  up  to 
and  including  the  years  of  the  Civil  War  in  no  wise  very  greatly 
differed  from  that  of  the  country  physician  in  the  South.  He  en- 
joyed the  best  practice  in  his  section  by  long  odds  and  made  a 
name  in  his  profession  beyond  the  bounds  of  his  practice. 

His  friends  were  many,  though  not  of  the  influential  class  as  a 
rule;  but  they  were  true  to  him  through  all  the  succeeding  years 
of  war  and  reconstruction,  and  his  name  is  still  remembered  with 
respect  and  affection  in  that  section  from  which  he  has  been  ab- 
sent more  than  thirty  years. 

In  politics  Dr.  Mott  was  a  staunch  Whig  in  those  days,  and 
the  incident  is  yet  remembered  by  the  older  people  about  Lenoir 
how  that  during  a  term  of  court  at  that  place  he  hurrahed  on  the 
public  square  so  lustily  for  Millard  Fillmore  as  to  cause  the  Demo- 
cratic Judge  Ellis,  afterwards  Governor,  to  order  his  arrest  for 
contempt  of  court.  The  story  goes  that  cries  for  Buchanan  similar 
in  character  had  gone  unnoticed  by  the  court,  and  this  riled  Mott 
to  the  point  of  resistance,  so  that  placing  his  back  against  the 


JOHN  JAMES  MOTT  333 

court  house,  and  drawing  a  knife,  he  successfully  defied  the  par- 
ties sent  to  take  him  before  the  court. 

The  late  Webb  Austin  of  Lenoir,  who  was  eye-witness  of  the 
resistance  and  of  its  reason,  said  that  Colonel  B.  S.  Gaither  of 
Burke,  himself  a  Whig,  but  a  friend  of  the  Court,  before  which 
he  had  a  large  practice,  interfered  to  establish  better  relations  be- 
tween the  contemned  and  the  contemner,  and  finally  accomplished 
the  task  in  some  way  unknown  to  Austin. 

Dr.  Mott,  like  so  many  North  Carolinians  of  that  era,  whose 
position,  it  would  seem,  is  never  to  be  understood  either  by  the 
North  or  the  South,  was  opposed  to  secession  and  the  disruption 
of  the  Union,  and  took  no  part  in  effecting  that  unfortunate 
schism,  and  yet  he  could  but  feel  sympathy  for  the  brave  men, 
his  friends  and  neighbors,  who  were  battling  against  terrific  odds 
to  make  that  schism  good  and  permanent.  Constitutionally  in- 
trepid, he  did  not  fear  to  express  his  views  in  the  very  heat  of 
war,  and  openly  supported  Mr.  Holden  for  Governor  in  1864  upon 
a  platform  looking  to  peace ;  but  he  rendered  obedience  as  a  citi- 
zen to  the  Confederate  authorities.  State  and  National,  and  main- 
tained uninjured  his  relations  with  his  clientage  of  the  sick  and 
suffering  as  became  his  profession. 

The  appreciation  of  these  facts  on  the  part  of  the  people  of 
Catawba  County  sent  him  as  their  representative  to  the  Legisla- 
ture elected  under  the  Andrew  Johnson  reconstruction,  and  this 
is  the  only  elective  office  he  ever  held.  The  ashes  of  the  volcano 
were  then  warm  under  foot,  the  Howard  amendment  was  rejected 
by  the  Legislature,  and  the  worse  times  prophesied  from  its  rejec- 
tion came  in  the  guise  of  congressional  reconstruction  and  with 
it  unrestricted  instead  of  restricted  negro  suffrage. 

In  the  face  of  obloquy  and  ostracism  Mott  took  his  stand  with 
the  Republicans,  who  then  first  organized  in  North  Carolina.  To 
that  party,  through  many  succeeding  years  in  victory  and  defeat, 
he  maintained  a  loyal  allegiance.  On  one  question  only  did  he' 
subsequently  differ  from  it.  That  was  the  currency  question.  He 
voted  for  Bryan  in  1896,  though  he  did  not  support  him  in  his 
second  campaign,  for  what  reasons  I  am  not  advised. 


334  NORTH  CAROLINA 

In  1870  Dr.  Mott  changed  his  residence  from  Catawba  County 
to  Statesville,  in  the  neighboring  county  of  Iredell.  A  controlling 
consideration  in  this  change  was  doubtless  the  fact  that  in  1868 
he  had  been  chosen  by  the  board  of  directors  of  the  Western  North 
Carolina  Railroad  their  president. 

His  election  was  accomplished  under  circumstances  unusual  in 
those  peaceful  da}'s,  and  after  a  struggle  for  control  marked  by 
all  the  bitterness  and  savage  partisanship  which  distinguished  the 
reconstruction  era.  This  is  no  fitting  place  in  which  to  express 
personal  opinions  as  to  the  right  or  wrong  of  views  then  held  by 
the  champions  of  the  two  parties  who  met  in  Statesville  in  August, 
1868,  to  decide  the  question  of  controlling  the  patronage  of  this 
State  enterprise.  Governor  Tod  R.  Caldwell  was  in  command  of 
the  eight  State  directors,  then  newly  named  by  Governor  Holden, 
Governor  Vance  opposing  at  the  head  of  the  four  stockholders' 
directors.  The  battle  of  words  was  long  and  furious.  Every 
point  of  parliamentary  law  was  fought  over.  The  chair  was  filled 
by  Judge  A.  S.  Merrimon,  serene,  courteous,  granitic  in  purpose 
and  ruling.  The  old  court  house  was  filled  to  the  windows  with 
representative  citizens  from  all  that  fine  section  of  country  which 
lies  between  Salisbury  and  Asheville.  The  Democrats  headed  by 
Colonel  Samuel  McD.  Tate,  the  then  president  by  appointment  of 
retiring  Governor  Jonathan  Worth,  sanctioned  by  the  unanimous 
vote  of  the  private  stockholders,  were  in  possession,  which  is  said 
to  be  nine  points  in  law.  The  Republicans  were  new  men  for  the 
most  part  and  small  holders  of  stock,  but  with  the  great  seal  of 
the  State  to  their  commissions. 

All  the  precedents  were  with  the  Republicans,  but  certain  chang- 
es in  the  by-laws  of  the  company  of  recent  date,  and  perhaps  made 
in  view  of  the  contingency  of  reconstruction,  gave  a  practical  veto 
upon  the  State's  proxy  to  the  united  vote  of  the  private  stock. 
Upon  this  state  of  the  law  the  quarrel  hinged.  Caldwell  with  all 
the  fervor  of  his  Irish  nature  threw  down  the  gage  of  battle, 
and  Vance  met  it  in  the  confidence  of  many  past  victories  and  with 
scornful  derision  for  his  foe.  The  chair  was  with  Vance,  but  not 
eager  to  be,  controlling  most  admirably  an  excited  body  of  men, 


JOHN  JAMES  MOTT  335 

who  were  eager  not  alone  to  be  with  him,  but  to  frown  upon  any 
who  were  not  with  him.  Roman  stiffness  was  needed  by  the  op- 
position and  Caldwell  did  not  lack  for  it  in  himself,  but  he  was 
not  so  fortunate  among  his  followers. 

There  was  among  the  State  directors  one  name  unknown  to  the 
people  outside  his  county,  but  since  given  the  fitting  christening 
of  the  Iron  Duke  :  that  was  the  name  of  J.  J.  Mott,  who  upon  that 
occasion  came  to  the  front  of  the  stage  in  a  marked  manner.  Dr. 
Mott  had  not  been  thought  of  in  connection  with  the  office  to  which 
he  was  then  chosen,  nor  had  he,  perhaps,  thought  of  it  himself; 
but  when  the  determination  of  the  Democrats  to  resist  to  the  last 
ditch  any  surrender  of  what  they  regarded  as  their  own  property 
became  evident,  the  keen  glance  of  Caldwell  rested  upon  the  placid 
features  of  Mott  unmoved  amidst  all  the  excitement,  and  the  Re- 
publican directors,  following  Caldwell's  lead,  voted  him  president. 

The  Hon.  Nathaniel  Boyden,  then  the  Republican  Congressman 
from  the  Iredell  district,  took  the  floor  and  made  a  passionate  ap- 
peal for  harmony  and  the  completion  of  the  road  to  the  Ten- 
nessee line.  He  was  a  large  property  owner,  a  lawyer  of  State 
reputation,  and  had  recently  left  the  presidency  of  the  North  Caro- 
lina Railway  to  take  a  seat  in  Congress.  Venerable  in  years  and 
dignity  though  he  was,  his  words  fell  upon  hostile  ears.  Finally 
a  compromise  was  arranged  outside  the  doors  by  which  Mott  be- 
came the  acknowledged  head  of  the  road  in  control  of  its  patron- 
age ;  but  the  financial  management  was  left  with  Colonel  Tate,  for 
whom  the  new  office  of  financial  agent  was  created  by  a  stock 
vote.  Both  Merrimon  and  Vance  were  continued  as  private  stock- 
holders' directors.  Colonel  Tate  and  Dr.  John  C.  McDowell  of 
Burke  were  the  other  directors  of  that  interest. 

Thus  ended  a  sample  struggle  between  the  outs  and  ins  of  that 
day  and  time. 

In  1872  Senator  Pool,  then  in  chief  control  of  North  Carolina 
patronage,  named  Dr.  Mott  collector  of  internal  revenue  for  the 
6th  district  in  place  of  Samuel  H.  Wiley  of  Salisbury,  who  had 
held  that  very  lucrative  position  since  the  organization  of  the 
State  by  Andrew  Johnson.     The  headquarters  of  the  office  were 


336  NORTH  CAROLINA 

removed  to  Statesville,  and  there  for  the  next  ten  years  the  affairs 
of  the  State  Republican  Party  were  largely  administered.  When 
Mott  retired  from  this  office,  he  named  his  successor,  Thomas  N. 
Cooper,  Esq.,  and  it  is  not  too  much  to  say  that  for  twenty  years 
the  subject  of  this  sketch  wielded  a  power  and  influence  in  our 
State  such  as  neither  Mangum,  Badger,  Graham,  Vance  or  Ran- 
som ever  aspired  to,  much  less  exercised. 

Caldwell  was  elected  Governor  in  1872  largely  by  his  aid.  In 
the  Legislature  of  that  year  he  was  of  material  value  in  bringing 
about  the  election  of  Merrimon  as  United  States  Senator  over 
Vance,  a  result  due  to  the  solid  Republican  vote  in  union  with  18 
bolting  Democrats.  He  organized  and  was  chiefly  responsible  for 
the  Liberal  movement  of  1882,  by  which  the  great  Tilden  majority 
of  17,000  was  whittled  down  to  a  beggarly  800,  in  favor  of  Judge 
Bennett  over  Oliver  Dockery  for  Congressman  at  large  in  that 
year.  His  home  district  was  among  the  most  active  seats  of 
rebellion  against  former  political  leanings,  and  returned  Dr.  Tyre 
York,  a  Republican,  to  Congress  over  the  Hon.  W.  M.  Robbins, 
before  considered  immune  from  defeat.  While  the  States  south 
of  us  in  those  years  were  surrendering  even  the  pretence  of  a  Re- 
publican organization.  Chairman  Mott  was  contesting  North  Caro- 
lina inch  by  inch  with  his  political  foes.  I  omitted  mention  of  the 
fact  that  after  1876,  up  to  and  including  1886,  he  was  the  chair- 
man of  the  State  Republican  Committee. 

In  national  conventions  of  his  party  our  subject  was  ever  a 
conspicuous  figure,  being  often  chairman  of  his  delegation  or  as- 
signed prominent  committee  work.  He  was  during  several  con- 
ventions the  staunch  friend  of  Senator  Sherman  for  the  presiden- 
tial nomination,  and  he  favored  Arthur  against  Mr.  Blaine  in  1884. 
He  heartily  united  with  the  political  fusion  of  1894  by  which  the 
State  passed  for  the  time  from  its  old  moorings.  Never  a  stump 
speaker,  this  man's  power  with  the  pen  has  more  than  supplied 
that  deficiency,  for  such  it  must  be  accounted  in  American  public 
life. 

This  writer  has  long  regarded  the  late  Judge  Edwin  G.  Reade 
as  the  most  incisive  and  pungent  prose  writer  of  whom  the  State 


JOHN  JAMES  MOTT  337 

can  boast.  If  this  opinion  be  at  all  well  founded,  then  the  further 
opinion  may  be  worthy  of  respect  when  it  is  said  that  Dr.  Mott 
falls  but  little  behind  the  Judge  as  a  writer  of  English  undefiled. 
Unlike  the  Judge,  his  work  will  have  no  permanent  place  in  the 
State's  history,  being  composed  as  it  is  of  fugitive  articles  for  the 
press,  letters  of  advice  upon  public  questions  written  at  the  re- 
quest of  presidents  and  cabinet  officers  and  never  intended  for 
publication,  together  with  editorials  in  the  party  organs  during  his 
chairmanship  of  a  party  committee  for  which  credit  was  purposely 
given  to  others. 

The  Charlotte  Observer  has  frequently  printed  letters  from  him 
upon  subjects  of  general,  not  party,  interest,  and  one  in  particular, 
originally  appearing  in  a  Chicago  magazine,  but  taken  into  the  Ob- 
server for  North  Carolina  readers,  deserves  more  than  a  passing 
notice.  It  related  to  the  subject  never  ending,  never  to  be  solved 
during  this  generation — the  negro  question.  In  that  the  writer 
took  strong  ground  in  favor  of  the  gradual  colonization  of  the 
Afro-American.  In  lucid  manner  he  detailed  imaginary  speeches 
by  the  negro  to  his  former  owner  in  which  the  true  inward  feeling 
of  the  non-slaveholder  or  "poor  white"  of  the  South  towards  him 
was  pointed  out,  the  underlying  selfishness  of  Northern  philan- 
thropy was  more  than  hinted  at,  and  the  neglect  of  duty  by  the  old 
master  painted  in  colors  touching  the  tenderest  fibres  of  our 
nature. 

It  was  the  cry  of  wandering  Israel  denied  a  resting-place  for 
her  weary  feet  and  vexed  by  the  police  cry  to  move  on.  The  ar- 
ticle was  written  at  the  instance  of  General  Green  B.  Raum  of 
Illinois,  who  after  talking  upon  this  subject  with  Dr.  Mott,  and 
impressed  by  his  viewpoint,  urged  that  the  people  of  the  North- 
west needed  enlightenment  upon  a  question  which,  though  fre- 
quently discussed  by  them,  he,  Raum,  was  sure  they  were  in  the 
dark  about.  The  article  was  in  truth  an  eye-opener,  even  to  well- 
informed  men  in  the  South. 

With  some  acquaintance  with  North  Carolina's  public  men  of 
the  present  time,  this  writer  ventures  the  opinion  that  the  philoso- 
phy of  representative  government  is  not  better  understood  or  more 


338  NORTH  CAROLINA 

carefully  considered  in  giving  judgment  upon  issues  by  any  one 
among  them  than  by  the  farmer  politician  of  Iredell.  His  read- 
ing, though  not  voracious,  has  been  accurate  and  confined  chiefly 
to  Shakespeare,  Greek,  Roman,  English  and  American  history.  In 
these  he  is  at  home.  Allusion  is  made  to  our  subject  as  a  farmer, 
and  it  may  be  observed  that  he  is  a  most  excellent  farmer  and 
has  never  faltered  in  his  love  for  the  fields.  He  is  regarded 
as  one  of  the  best  wing  shots  in  the  west,  and  dog  and  gun  have 
a  charm  that  yield  to  naught  save  his  love  for  a  fine  horse. 

At  his  home  two  miles  east  of  Statesville  may  be  found  the  best 
strains  of  blue-grass  flesh,  while  every  animal,  from  the  tiniest 
fowl  to  the  lordly  bull,  is  selected  for  its  blood.  Though  seventy 
years  of  age,  the  Doctor  will  mount  no  steed  that  is  not  full  of  fire, 
and  he  is  seemingly  in  touch  with  every  form  of  animal  nature. 
These  incidents  are  mentioned  chiefly  to  illustrate  the  value  fond- 
nesses of  this  nature,  acquired  in  early  life,  have  in  keeping  green 
the  old  age  of  a  devotee.  In  recent  years  the  Doctor  has  with- 
drawn himself  from  any  active  participation  in  public  affairs,  but 
this  by  no  means  implies  that  he  is  a  misanthrope  or  indifferent  to 
the  welfare  of  his  country.  No  shrewder  critic  of  passing  events 
is  to  be  found.  He  is  profoundly  convinced  of  the  absolute  need  to 
our  future)  national  well-being  that  the  South  shall  have  within  it 
two  well-organized  combative  political  forces,  and  that  if  the  folly 
of  successive  Northern  administrations  of  the  Government  con- 
tinues indifferent  to  this  need,  the  growing  wealth  of  our  section 
will  ere  long  give  us  the  Government  to  be  administered  section- 
ally  in  turn,  and  thus  realize  again  Washington's  one  fear  of  the 
Republic  from  which  our  first  deliverance  through  seas  of  blood 
has  been  so  recent. 

Is  there  not  reason  for  this  opinion  to  be  foimd  on  any  street 
corner  North  or  South? 

It  is  in  private  circles  that  Doctor  Mott  shows  his  best  side. 
Reminiscent,  humorous  after  the  style  of  the  old  South,  eighteen 
carat  gold  in  loyalty  to  those  he  loves,  philosophic  or  suggestive 
when  fitting,  well-bred  in  manner,  chivalric  in  respect  to  women, 
he  is  in  all  things  a  delightful  host  or  comrade. 


JOHN  JAMES  MOTT 


339 


In  person  the  man  would  be  remarked  in  any  crowd  for  his  tall, 
willowy  figure,  carried  without  stoop  despite  his  seventy  years, 
and  evidencing  great  sinewy  strength.  A  pale  countenance  lit  up 
with  dark  eyes,  qniick  to  show  anger  or  esteem,  with  a  fine  mouth  of 
shining  white  teeth,  and  you  have  the  man.  Tossed  for  a  quarter' 
of  a  century  on  the  rough  seas  of  reconstruction  politics,  he  has 
preserved  his  name  pure  and  fought  down  an  opposition  unknown 
to  the  men  either  of  the  present  generation  or  of  that  preceding 
the  war.  In  the  peaceful  refuge  of  home  he  looks  back  on  those 
times  and  the  men  who  figured  in  them  without  the  bitterness 
which  once  distinguished  him.  Never  unappreciative  of  honest 
differences  in  opinion,  the  mellow  reflex  of  his  setting  sun  in- 
clines to  charity  and  its  kindred  virtues.  As  a  striking  force  in 
the  political  history  of  the  State  in  an  era  isolated  from  the  com- 
mon current  of  our  civic  life,  he  deserves  a  place  among  the  men 
of.  mark  who  have  for  good  or  ill  affected  our  well-being. 

The  Iron  Duke,  as  friend  and  foe  dubbed  him,  has  been  a  hard 
fighter ;  but  this  writer  is  of  opinion  that  never  knowingly  did  he 
aim  a  blow  to  the  injury  of  our  common  mother.  North  Caro- 
lina, whom  he  loves  as  well  as  the  rest  of  us. 

W.  S.  Pearson. 


ARCHIBALD   DE    BOW    MURPHEY 

'  HE  spirit  of  patriotism  which  had  impelled  men 
to  risk  all  for  the  sake  of  independence,  and 
which  had  called  forth  a  splendid  statesman- 
ship in  the  struggle  over  the  Federal  Constitu- 
tion, inspired  men  at  the  close  of  the  War  of 
1812  with  equal  urgency  to  consider  the  crying 
needs  of  the  several  commonwealths,  to  conserve  their  services 
and  to  develop  their  resources.  This  spirit  found  in  North  Caro- 
lina admirable  expression  in  Archibald  De  Bow  Murphey,  born 
in  Caswell  County  in  1777,  the  son  of  Colonel  Archibald  Murphey, 
a  North  Carolina  Revolutionary  officer,  and  graduated  with  the 
highest  distinction  at  the  infant  State  University  in  1799,  where 
he  taught  for  two  years.  Murphey  began  to  practise  law  in  1802, 
and  rose  rapidly  to  the  position  of  a  recognized  leader  of  the  most 
brilliant  bar  in  the  legal  annals  of  the  State.  In  1812  he  en- 
tered the  State  Senate  as  representative  from  Orange  County,  and 
no  man  ever  brought  into  that  body  a  truer  patriotism,  a  states- 
manship more  philosophic  and  far-seeing,  or  exerted,  during  the 
same  period  of  legislative  activity,  a  more  pov/erful  influence  on 
his  contemporaries  or  the  legislation  of  the  State.  He  sought  to 
awaken  North  Carolina  to  a  knowledge  of  her  own  resources  and 
character,  to  arouse  a  State  pride  that  would  bring  to  an  end 
the  westward  emigration  which  was  draining  her  popula- 
tion, and  to  profit  by  the  universal  calm  to  recover  the  position  of 


^^r^ 


i-ieel'hy.'^sHn.Sattaiti,  Fkil"* 


JUDGE   OF    THE    CIRCUIT  COURT   OF    NORTH  CAROLINA 


.5f  rrdrr  of  tk^'  ^ddffrs  :f  f^e^  Jf  0'.  l/'fi./v  ^'Jfi/A/ajy^^-yprJ^^O. 


ARCHIBALD  DE  BOW  MURPHEY  341 

importance  in  the  Union  which  the  rapid  growth  of  other  States 
and  her  own  supineness  were  fast  undermining.  "Rising  above 
the  influence  of  Httle  passions,"  he  said,  "let  us  devote  our  labors 
to  the  honor  and  glory  of  the  State  in  which  we  live  by  establish- 
ing and  giving  effect  to  a  system  of  policy  which  shall  develop  her 
physical  resources,  draw  forth  her  moral  and  intellectual  ener- 
gies, give  facilities  to  her  industry  and  encouragement  to  her  en- 
terprise." In  the  lack  of  transportation  facilities,  and  in  the  scat- 
tered commerce  which  enabled  adjoining  States  to  reap  its  profit 
and  to  control  her  circulating  medium,  he  discovered  the  cause  of 
her  declining  fortunes  and  brought  forward  internal  improvement 
in  the  legislature  of  1815,  as  a  comprehensive  project  of  State  ac- 
tivity. The  main  features  of  his  plan,  as  matured  a  few  years 
later,  were  to  deepen  the  advantageously  located  inlets  and  sounds 
of  the  treacherous  coast;  to  render  navigable  the  priffcipal  rivers 
and  their  tributaries  far  into  the  interior  for  boats  of  light  draft ; 
to  join  by  canals  the  rivers  Roanoke,  Tar  or  Pamlico,  and  Neuse, 
and  the  Neuse  with  the  sea  at  Beaufort,  and  to  concentrate  at  one 
point  the  commercial  product  of  the  country  watered  by  each  of 
them;  to  join  in  like  manner  the  Cape  Fear,  Lumber,  Yadkin,  and 
Catawba  Rivers,  and  to  concentrate  their  commerce  upon  the  Cape 
Fear ;  to  connect  by  turnpike  roads  these  waterways  with  the  more 
remote  places  and  also  certain  rivers  where  canals  were  impracti- 
cable; further  to  drain  the  swamps  in  the  southern  and  eastern 
counties  and  reclaim  them  for  agricultural  purposes.  This  bold, 
comprehensive,  and  well-connected  system  of  internal  improve- 
ments, equal  in  breadth  of  conception  to  the  great  scheme  that 
De  Witt  Clinton  was  then  launching  in  New  York,  was  designed 
to  provide  by  the  best  methods  then  known  to  science,  and  by  the 
aid  of  natural  advantages  for  inland  navigation  enjoyed  by  no 
neighboring  State,  cheap  and  easy  transportation  from  all  sections 
to  the  best  inlets  of  the  sandy  barriers  which  locked  out  the  com- 
merce of  the  world,  and  to  build  up  a  home  market  by  the  concen- 
tration of  trade  at  a  few  points  within  the  limits  of  the  State  suited 
to  the  growth  of  large  cities.  This  was  to  be  the  plan  of  opera- 
tions, and  the  practicability  of  each  enterprise  was  a  question  for 


342  NORTH  CAROLINA 

the  engineers.  The  State  hesitated  to  embark  in  the  undertaking, 
but  companies  for  improving  the  navigation  of  the  principal  rivers 
were  incorporated  or  enlarged  in  scope  and  aided  by  direct  ap- 
propriation or  by  subscription  of  stock.  Numerous  surveys 
were  made,  and  in  1819  Hamilton  Fulton,  an  EngHsh  engineer  of 
distinction,  was  engaged  to  superintend  public  works.  Fulton  re- 
ported favorably  on  the  plans  drawn  up  for  him  by  Murphey  with 
remarkable  completeness  of  detail,  and  conducted  surveys  of  har- 
bors, rivers,  and  routes  for  roads.  A  fund  for  internal  improve- 
ments was  established,  consisting  of  the  proceeds  from  the  sale 
of  land  acquired  from  the  Cherokee  Indians,  and  a  board  was  ap- 
pointed to  manage  the  fund.  North  Carolina  hailed  Murphey  as 
the  successful  promoter  of  inland  navigation,  the  hope  and  pride 
of  the  State,  and  his  plans  attracted  wide  attention  and  admira- 
tion in  the  country  at  large.  But  narrow  views,  sectional  preju- 
dices and  jealousies,  incompetent  management,  and  the  pecuniary 
embarrassment  prevalent  in  the  State,  a  condition  largely  due  to 
the  very  evils  that  were  to  be  remedied,  conspired  to  thwart  all  at- 
tempts. So  bold  and  so  vast  a  scheme  seemed  visionary  to  many, 
and  it  lacked  the  united  support  essential  for  success.  The  grow- 
ing western  part  of  the  State  stood  most  in  need  of  projects  for 
opening  up  its  resources,  while  the  east,  blessed  with  fine  rivers, 
and  with  an  influence  in  the  General  Assembly,  under  the  Consti- 
tution of  1776,  out  of  all  proportion  to  population,  was  unwilling 
to  be  taxed  for  improvements  in  behalf  of  the  common  good  that 
the  west  pleaded  for.  The  inequality  of  representation,  which  for 
years  baffled  the  efforts  of  many  distinguished  legislators,  pro- 
voked a  demand  for  a  change  in  the  Constitution.  The  move- 
ment shaped  by  Murphey's  proposition  in  the  legislature  of  1816 
for  a  constitutional  convention  developed  a  bitter  struggle  between 
the  east  and  the  west  which  led  to  an  unsuccessful  convention  of 
the  friends  of  reform  in  1823,  and  culminated  in  the  constitutional 
convention  of  1835.  To  conciliate  favor,  therefore,  instead  of  ap- 
plying the  fluctuating  fund  to  the  execution  of  one  or  two  enter- 
prises at  a  time,  as  Murphey  had  proposed,  inadequate  appropria- 
tions were  made  for  various  parts  of  the  general  plan  in  all  sec- 


ARCHIBALD  DE  BOW  MURPHEY  343 

tions,  and  disappointment  was  inevitable.  The  costs  of  the  work 
proved  far  in  excess  of  the  estimates  of  the  principal  engineer, 
while  the  navigation  companies  suffered  from  the  neglect  of  the 
State  and  stockholders,  the  absence  of  capital  seeking  investment, 
and  injudicious  management,  and  several  failed.  The  enthusiasm 
aroused  by  the  splendid  exertions  of  Murphey  gave  way  to  timid- 
ity, and  after  a  few  years  the  undertaking  was  abandoned.  With 
the  coming  of  railroads  the  utility  of  many  of  its  features  was 
lost.  "But  the  fame  of  its  author  as  a  patriot,  statesman  and 
sage,"  said  Governor  William  A.  Graham,  a  leader  in  another  era 
of  internal  improvements,  "should  not  be  dimmed  by  mistakes  or 
failures  in  the  details  of  its  execution  or  the  advances  made  in  the 
science  of  engineering  in  a  subsequent  age."  The  expenditures 
on  the  work  were  amply  repaid  by  the  topographical  and  statistical 
knowledge  obtained,  and  by  the  stimulation  given  to  public  spirit 
and  enterprise.  Murphey's  report  on  internal  improvements  in 
181 5  contains  the  first  suggestion  of  a  geological  survey  under 
government  auspices  in  America,  and  the  geological  work  in  North 
Carolina  during  this  period  marks  its  beginnings. 

Internal  improvement,  although  the  field  of  his  greatest  and 
most  persevering  efiforts,  was  but  a  part  of  the  policy  of  common- 
wealth upbuilding  inaugurated  by  Murphey,  and  it  is  his  early 
and  enlightened  labors  in  the  cause  of  education  which  serve  most 
potently  to  keep  fresh  the  memory  of  his  name.  The  first  Consti- 
tution of  North  Carolina,  like  that  of  Pennsylvania,  was  distin- 
guished by  a  provision  for  elementary  and  higher  education,  but 
only  the  university  it  contemplated  was  established,  and  that  de- 
pended largely  on  private  munificence  for  support.  Since  1802 
successive  governors  had  called  the  attention  of  the  General  As- 
sembly to  the  need  of  schools.  Governor  Miller's  message  of  1816 
was  referred  to  a  committee  of  which  Murphey  was  chairman, 
and  he  drafted  a  masterly  report  urging  the  establishment  of  "a 
judicious  system  of  public  education,"  which  should  "include  a 
gradation  of  schools,  regularly  supporting  each  other,  from  the 
one  in  which  the  first  rudiments  of  education  are  taught  to  that  in 
which  the  highest  branches  of  the  sciences  are  cultivated." 


344  NORTH  CAROLINA 

The  eloquence  and  logic  of  his  plea  for  education  resulted  in  the 
appointment  of  a  committee  with  Murphey  as  chairman  to  digest 
a  system  founded  on  the  principles  stated.  Inspired  by  his  theme 
with  a  zeal  that  brought  all  his  varied  talents  into  play,  and  matur- 
ing his  ideas  by  a  study  of  educational  systems  and  methods  of  in- 
struction in  America  and  Europe,  he  submitted  a  plan  of  educa- 
tion, in  1817,  as  comprehensive,  compact,  and  definite  in  detail  as 
the  scheme  of  internal  improvement  he  was  then  advocating.  Mur- 
phey made  the  primary  school  the  foundation  stone  of  his  system 
and  proposed  to  establish  in  every  locality  that  would  provide  a 
suitable  house  and  lot  a  primary  school  in  which  teachers  paid  by 
the  State  should  instruct  poor  children  free  of  charge,  and  others 
at  fixed  rates.  ''These  schools,"  he  said,  "would  be  to  the  rich  a 
convenience,  and  to  the  poor  a  blessing."  For  secondary  educa- 
tion he  proposed  to  erect  ten  academies  and  to  divide  the  expense 
of  establishment  and  maintenance  between  the  State  and  ten  aca- 
demical districts.  The  State  University,  then  in  its  twenty-second 
year,  crowned  the  whole  system,  and  liberal  plans  were  devised  for 
its  improvement.  Courses  of  studies,  modes  of  instruction,  and 
government  of  schools  were  discussed  in  the  report  with  singular 
foresight.  A  board  of  public  instruction,  consisting  of  six  intelli- 
gent and  efficient  men  elected  by  the  General  Assembly  and  the 
Governor,  ex-oMcio,  as  chairman,  was  to  put  the  plan  gradually 
into  effect,  to  superintend  its  operation,  and  to  manage  a  fund  for 
public  instruction.  But  Murphey's  characteristic  humanity  car- 
ried him  too  far.  "Poverty,"  he  said,  "is  the  school  of  genius ;  it 
is  a  school  in  which  the  active  powers  of  man  are  developed  and 
disciplined,  and  in  which  that  moral  courage  is  acquired  which 
enables  him  to  cope  with  difficulties,  privations,  and  want.  But  it  is 
a  school  which,  if  left  to  itself,  runs  wild ;  vice  in  all  its  depraved 
forms  grows  up  in  it.  The  State  should  take  this  school  under 
her  special  care,  and,  nurturing  the  genius  which  there  grows 
in  rich  luxuriance,  give  to  it  an  honorable  and  profitable  direction. 
Poor  children  are  the  peculiar  property  of  the  State,  and  by  proper 
cultivation  they  will  constitute  a  fund  of  intellectual  and  moral 
worth  which  will  greatly  subserve  the  pubHc  interest."     He  pro- 


ARCHIBALD  DE  BOW  MURPHEY  345 

posed,  therefore,  that  the  State  should  advance  into  the  academies 
and  the  University,  and  feed  and  clothe  while  there,  as  many 
poor  children  who  gave  the  best  assurance  of  future  usefulness  as 
the  fund  for  public  instruction  would  permit.  The  report  of  1816 
suggested  that  teachers  be  selected  from  these  youths,  who  should 
teach  poor  children  gratuitously  at  the  primary  schools  in  return 
for  their  own  education  and  support  at  the  public  expense.  The 
bill  embodying  the  provisions  of  the  report  passed  its  first  reading 
in  both  Houses,  but  the  impracticable  clause  for  the  maintenance 
as  well  as  education  of  poor  children,  which  its  friends  declined  to 
eliminate,  caused  this  magnificent  plan,  perhaps  the  nearest  ap- 
proach to  the  American  public  school  system  possible  at  that  early 
day,  to  sink  into  the  obscurity  of  the  public  archives,  where  lie  the 
other  matchless  monuments  of  the  progressiveness,  scholarship, 
and  patriotism  of  its  author.  Five  years  later  Bartlett  Yancey,  a 
former  student  in  Murphey's  office,  drafted  a  bill  which  estab- 
lished a  fund  for  common  schools,  but  not  until  1840  did  North 
Carolina  have  a  school  system,  and  then  she  turned  back  to  her 
statesman  of  1817  for  a  model.  An  asylum  for  the  instruction  of 
the  deaf  and  dumb  was  also  included  in  his  plan. 

Murphey  retired  frorn  the  State  Senate  in  1818  and  was  elected 
judge  of  the  Superior  Court,  but  remained  chairman  of  the  board 
of  commissioners  of  inland  navigation.  He  resigned  from  the 
bench  in  1820  after  a  brilliant  career  as  judge,  giving  up  bright 
prospects  of  elevation  to  the  Supreme  Court,  in  which  he  sat  by 
special  commission  in  several  cases,  to  repair  his  private  fortune, 
once  considerable,  but  now  threatened  with  ruin  because  of  his 
over-sanguine  investments  in  navigation  companies  and  western 
lands,  unfortunate  liabilities  as  surety,  and  the  hardness  of  the 
times.  While  engrossed  in  the  duties  of  a  large  practice  at  the 
bar,  he  was  called  to  render  a  new  service  to  his  Alma  Mater, 
whose  interests  he  cherished  as  his  own.  In  the  deed  of  cession 
to  the  United  States  of  the  territory  of  Tennessee,  North  Carolina 
had  reserved  the  right  to  grant  lands  for  Revolutionary  services 
and  had  given  to  the  university  as  its  chief  endowment  from  the 
State  the  lands  of  her  soldiers  who  left  no  heirs.     Tennessee  now 


346  NORTH  CAROLINA 

asserted  her  sovereign  rights  as  a  State.  Judge  Murphey  was 
sent  by  the  university  to  confer  with  the  Legislature  of  Tennessee, 
and  by  adroit  management  obtained  a  compromise  by  which  the 
lands  were  divided  between  the  University  of  North  Carolina  and 
the  College  of  East  Tennessee  and  the  College  of  Cumberland. 
At  this  time  and  until  the  close  of  his  life  Judge  Murphey  was  en- 
gaged in  a  final  project  for  promoting  the  interests  of  North  Caro- 
lina, an  elaborate  work  on  the  political,  civil,  natural,  and  aborig- 
inal history  of  the  State.  "We  want  such  a  work,"  he  wrote  a 
friend.  "We  neither  know  ourselves  nor  are  we  known  to  others. 
...  I  love  North  Carolina,  and  love  her  the  more  because  so  much 
injustice  has  been  done  to  her.  We  want  some  great  stimulus  to 
put  us  all  in  motion,  and  induce  us  to  waive  little  jealousies,  and 
combine  in  one  general  march  to  one  great  purpose."  Judge  Mur- 
phey's  indefatigable  energy,  his  broad  culture  and  philosophic 
cast  of  mind,  his  literary  taste  and  attainments,  and  the  ease,  sim- 
plicity, and  elegance  of  his  style,  fitted  him  preeminently  for  this 
task,  and  he  had  access  to  a  wealth  of  material  of  which  compara- 
tively little  has  come  down  to  our  day.  The  work  would  have  been 
of  priceless  value  had  he  lived  to  complete  it.  But  pecuniary 
difficulties  pressed  heavily  upon  him,  and  in  the  summer  of  1824, 
while  in  Tennessee,  he  was  overtaken  by  a  sickness  which  afflicted 
him  during  the  rest  of  his  life.  Twice  he  appealed  to  the  General 
Assembly  for  aid  in  publishing  his  work,  but  it  would  do  no  more 
than  to  procure  for  him,  through  our  minister,  Albert  Gallatin,  a 
list  of  documents  relating  to  Colonial  North  Carolina  in  the  Brit- 
ish archives  in  London.  The  Legislature  of  1829  declined  his 
offer  to  collect  and  publish  the  early  archives  of  the  State,  and 
sixty  years  passed  away  before  this  effort  bore  fruit.  Poverty  and 
disease  ended  his  brave  struggle  with  fate.  He  died  in  Hillsboro, 
February  r,  1832,  his  ambition  unrealized,  his  labors  unapprecia- 
ted. 

Murphey  was  in  advance  of  his  age.  The  time  was  not  ripe 
for  the  realization  of  his  large  plans,  and  he  never  knew  the  satis- 
faction of  success.  To  the  fulfillment  of  his  design  he  dedicated 
his  life  and  fortune,  remarkable  versatility  of  talents,  and  a  com- 


ARCHIBALD  DE  BOW  MURPHEY  347 

prehensive  genius  of  a  high  order.  A  generation  after  Murphey 
left  her  legislative  halls,  when  the  State  had  become  noted  for  its 
wretched  transportation  facilities  and  for  the  greatest  illiteracy  in 
the  Union,  North  Carolina  recalled  his  message.  At  the  bar 
Judge  Murphey  had  no  superior  among  his  contemporaries  as  an 
adept  equity  pleader  and  a  master  of  the  art  of  cross-examination. 
His  manner  of  speaking  was  like  earnest,  emphatic  conversation, 
but  when  warmly  enlisted  in  the  cause  of  a  greatly  wronged  client 
he  displayed  great  oratorical  powers.  In  the  breadth  of  his  cul- 
ture and  the  chaste  elegance  of  his  literary  style  he  was  unrivalled, 
and  among  men  in  professional  and  public  life  he  had  few  supe- 
riors as  a  literary  character  in  the  nation.  The  nobility  of  Judge 
Murphey 's  character,  his  simplicity,  grace,  and  dignity  of  manner, 
his  kindly,  benevolent  nature,  and  the  sad  pathos  of  his  life  en- 
deared him  to  all.  Notwithstanding  the  failure  of  his  plans  and 
the  disappointment  of  his  life,  his  influence  became  singularly  far- 
reaching,  and  it  has  remained  for  men  of  another  age  to  properly 
appreciate  his  greatness  and  to  render  him  honor.  Murphey  was 
a  prophet,  it  has  been  well  said,  and  receives  the  prophet's  reward. 
Archibald  De  Bow  Murphey  was  the  second  son  of  Colonel 
Archibald  Murphey  (1742-1817),  who  settled  on  Hyco  Creek  in 
what  is  now  Caswell  County,  North  Carolina,  in  i769,and  a  grand- 
son of  Alexander  Murphey  of  York  County,  Pennsylvania.  His 
mother,  Jane  De  Bow  (1750-1827),  daughter  of  Solomon  De  Bow 
of  Caswell,  was  a  native  of  New  Jersey  and  descended  from  Hen- 
drik  De  Boog  of  Amsterdam,  Holland,  whose  four  children  emigra- 
ted to  New  Amsterdam  about  1649.  Judge  Murphey  married,  No- 
vember 5,  1801,  Jane  Armistead  Scott,  and  had  four  sons  and  one 
daughter.  William  Duffy  Murphey  (1802-1831),  the  eldest  (A. 
B.,  University  of  N.  C,  1821),  died  without  issue.  Victor  Moreau 
Murphey  (1805-1862),  the  second  son  (A.B.,  University  of  N. 
C,  1823 ;  A.  M.,  1829),  studied  medicine  in  Philadelphia  and  set- 
tled in  Macon,  Mississippi,  in  1835,  where  he  represented  his  coun- 
ty in  the  legislature  of  the  State,  i838-'39,  and  enjoyed  a  high  repu- 
tation as  a  physician.  He  left  three  sons  and  three  daughters, 
four  of  whom  are  living.     Cornelia  Anne  Murphey  (1806-1840), 


348  NORTH  CAROLINA 

only  daughter  of  Judge  Murphey,  married,  first,  John  Paine  Car- 
ter, and,  second,  John  Murphey  Daniel.  She  was  one  of  the  most 
beautiful  and  accomplished  women  of  her  day  in  North  Carolina. 
From  her  son  and  two  daughters,  children  of  her  first  marriage, 
are  descended  many  of  the  Aikens,  Carters  and  Worths  of  North 
Carolina  and  Virginia.  Peter  Umstead  Murphey  (1810-1876), 
third  son  of  Judge  Murphey,  attended  the  University  i824-'2$. 
He  entered  the  navy  as  midshipman  in  1831,  served  during  the 
war  with  Mexico,  and  held  the  rank  of  lieutenant  at  the  outbreak 
of  the  Civil  War,  when  he  resigned  to  enter  the  Confederate  ser- 
vice. His  gallant  conduct  as  commander  of  the  "Selma"  in  the 
Battle  of  Mobile  Bay  was  highly  commended  by  both  Union  and 
Confederate  officers.  Captain  Murphey  married  first,  Catherine 
R.  Bancroft  and  had  one  son,  now  dead,  and  one  daughter,  Mrs. 
Theodore  O.  Chestney,  of  Macon,  Ga.  He  married,  second,  Emily 
R.  Patrick  of  Philadelphia,  and  had  two  children,  Mrs.  Frederick 
A.  Hoyt,  of  New  York,  and  Randolph  Clay  Murphey,  of  Fanquier 
Springs,  Va.  Alexander  Hamilton  Murphey  (1812-?  ),  youngest 
son  of  Judge  Murphey,  was  educated  at  the  Bingham  School  and 
moved  West  after  his  father's  death.  He  had  a  son  living  in  1840. 

William  Henry  Hoyt. 


WALTER  SCOTT    PARKER 

'  HE  men  who  cleared  away  the  ashes  of  old  Chi- 
cago and  filled  the  world  with  wonder  over  their 
marvellous  new  city,  displayed  no  greater  cour- 
age and  enterprise  than  did  the  young  sons  of 
Carolina,  who,  putting  aside  the  dead  ashes  of 
the  old  regime  at  the  close  of  the  civil  war,  have 
built  upon  the  old  foundations  a  new  and  better  State,  where  reli- 
gion and  education  join  hands  in  their  great  character-building 
processes,  and  the  busy  stir  of  trade  and  the  hum  of  wheel  and 
spindle  mark  a  new  era  of  material  progress.  No  record  of  these 
men  would  be  complete  without  honorable  mention  of  Walter  Scott 
Parker,  of  Henderson. 

He  was  born  in  Wilson  County,  North  Carolina,  December  i, 
1849.  His  grandfather,  Solomon  Parker,  was  a  man  of  means, 
and  at  his  death  left  each  of  his  sons  in  comfortable  circumstances. 
His  father  was  Theophilus  Parker,  a  man  noted  for  large  char- 
ity and  strict  integrity.  He  was  a  founder  and  leading  member  of 
Salem  Baptist  Church  in  Wilson  County,  and  was  possessed  of  a 
fair  estate,  owning  lands  and  slaves. 

His  mother  was  Gabrielle  Wilkinson,  a  daughter  of  Benjamin 
Wilkinson,  who  repeatedly  represented  Edgecombe  County  in  the 
General  Assembly  of  North  Carolina.  She  was  of  Scotch  descent 
and  possessed  the  thrift,  enterprise  and  strength  of  character  so 
characteristic  of  her  countrymen.     She  died  about  the  beginning  of 


350  NORTH  CAROLINA 

the  civil  war,  at  a  time  when  her  young  son  had  greatest  need  of 
her  guiding  hand. 

Young  Parker  was  a  youth  of  eleven  years  when  the  war  began. 
At  its  close  the  spirit  of  a  man  had  come  upon  him  while  he  was 
yet  a  boy.  When  he  was  fourteen  an  accident  had  disabled  his 
father,  and  the  overseer  had  gone  to  the  war,  so  that  the  man- 
agement of  the  farm  and  slaves  was  cast  upon  him.  Upon  his 
father's  recovery  in  1866,  he  clerked  for  a  short  time  in  a  store 
near  his  home,  but  the  experience  of  his  boyhood  and  the  condi- 
tions that  followed  the  war  stirred  him  to  larger  enterprise.  As 
he  expressed  it:  "The  general  poverty  of  the  people  in  1866  was 
inducement  enough  to  stir  the  energies  of  a  boy  who  wanted  to  do 
something."  At  the  age  of  sixteen  he  borrowed  a  few  hundred 
dollars  from  his  father,  who  had  succeeded  in  saving  something 
from  the  wreck  of  the  war,  and  began  business  on  his  own  ac- 
count at  Joyner's  Depot,  which  he  prosecuted  with  such  diligence 
and  ability  that  when  he  reached  the  age  of  twenty  years  he  found 
himself  able  to  incur  the  expense  of  a  course  at  college.  His  edu- 
cation as  a  boy  had  been  limited  to  the  opportunities  of  the  ordi- 
nary country  school  of  that  period,  the  nearest  being  four  miles 
from  his  home,  and  one  year  at  a  military  school  taught  by  a 
wounded  soldier.  Such  leisure  as  he  had  from  the  farm  and 
store  was  given  to  reading  and  study,  which  greatly  stimulated 
his  purpose  to  make  life  a  success.  In  1870  he  left  his  business 
in  charge  of  a  partner,  who  had  been  admitted  for  that  purpose, 
and  entered  Trinity  College  for  such  a  special  course  of  study  as 
would  fit  him  for  success  in  the  higher  departments  of  business. 
The  taste  for  reading  and  study  thus  early  cultivated  has  proved 
a  lasting  acquisition,  and  his  interest  in  the  literary  and  intellec- 
tual movements  of  the  day  keeps  well  abreast  of  his  more  material 
concerns 

His  college  work  done  and  his  business  prospering,  Mr.  Par- 
ker was  now  in  a  position  to  gratify  his  domestic  tastes,  and  in 
1876  was  happily  united  in  marriage  with  Miss  Lucy  A.  Closs, 
daughter  of  Rev.  William  Closs,  D.D.  Dr.  Closs  was  for  nearly 
fifty  years  engaged  in  the  Methodist    Episcopal    ministry.     He 


WALTER  SCOTT  PARKER  351 

possessed  ability  of  a  high  order  and  at  an  early  age  attained  prom- 
inence in  the  North  Carolina  Conference,  which  soon  extended 
to  the  General  Conference.  He  was  a  man  of  large  view  and  sur- 
passingly fine  judgment.  Bishop  Pierce  pronounced  him  the 
lawyer  of  the  Southern  Methodist  Church  and  the  greatest  deba- 
ter in  the  General  Conference.  He  died  in  1882,  in  his  seventy- 
fourth  year,  and  is  buried  at  Henderson.  It  is  a  distinct  loss  to 
North  Carolina  that  no  adequate  record  of  his  life  has  been  writ- 
ten. Mrs.  Parker  was  a  bright  and  accomplished  woman,  possess- 
ing a  large  measure  of  her  distinguished  father's  intellectuality. 
She  had  fine  social  and  domestic  tastes,  and  was  an  admirable 
helpmeet  to  the  aspiring  young  man.  This  union  proved  most 
happy  and  congenial  and  has  been  blessed  with  four  children, 
three  of  whom  are  now  living. 

The  necessity  for  a  larger  field  of  operations  induced  his  removal 
to  Enfield  in  1878,  where  success  still  followed  upon  his  efforts; 
but  his  activities  demanded  yet  larger  scope  and  led  to  his  locat- 
ing in  Henderson  in  1884.  Here  he  found  a  wide-open  door  and 
ample  employment  for  all  his  faculties,  and  for  twenty  years  he  has 
been  a  large  factor  in  the  social  and  commercial  life  of  the  town. 
For  a  time  he  conducted  a  general  retail  store,  but  in  1890  he 
closed  out  the  retail  business  and  established  the  only  exclusively 
wholesale  house  in  the  State  outside  the  city  of  Wilmington.  Nine 
years  later  the  jobbing  trade  in  the  State  had  developed  to  large 
proportions,  a  meeting  of  representatives  of  the  trade  was  held  at 
Asheville  in  1899,  and  the  North  Carolina  Wholesale  Grocers'  As- 
sociation was  organized  with  Mr.  Parker  as  president. 

Mr.  Parker  possesses  fine  business  sense  and  judgment  and 
large  comprehension  joined  to  fine  capacity  for  detail.  These, 
with  great  industry,  enterprise,  and  strict  integrity,  have  made 
him  a  prosperous  man  while  yet  "in  love  with  life  and  raptured 
with  the  world,  and  young  enough  to  enjoy  the  fruits  of  his  energy 
and  thrift."  It  is  worthy  of  note  that  those  in  his  employ  find  him 
liberal  and  share  in  his  prosperity.  He  rarely  changes  his  business 
help.  The  men  in  his  wholesale  store  in  Henderson  are  looked 
upon  as  fixtures.     Residents  of  the  town  scarcely  realize  that  there 


352  NORTH  CAROLINA 

was  a  time  when  they  were  not  there;  and  they  have  their  own 
homes. 

The  business  community  has  been  eager  to  show  its  recognition 
of  Mr.  Parker's  excellent  qualities  and  to  utilize  his  gifts  in  the 
management  of  its  most  important  financial  institutions.  He  was 
director  in  the  Bank  of  Henderson  until  its  consolidation  with  the 
Citizens'  Bank,  and  is  now  director  of  the  Citizens'  Bank,  Hender- 
son, and  also  of  the  First  National  Bank  of  Weldon  since  its  or- 
ganization, and  of  the  First  National  Bank  of  Rocky-Mount.  All 
these  institutions  are  highly  prosperous,  efficiently  and  ably  ad- 
ministered, and  possess  the  confidence  of  the  communities  where 
they  are  operated.  About  1894  he  became  interested  in  cotton 
manufacturing  and  organized  the  Roanoke  Mills  Co.,  Roanoke 
Rapids,  with  a  capital  of  $200,000,  since  increased  to  $272,000. 
He  has  been  president  since  its  organization,  and  has  administered 
its  affairs  with  such  signal  ability  that  the  plant  is  now  worth  in 
the  neighborhood  of  half  a  million  dollars.  He  is  also  treasurer 
and  manager  of  the  Patterson  Store  Co.,  Rosemary,  North  Caro- 
lina, having  stores  at  Roanoke  Rapids  and  Roanoke  Junction. 

So  little  is  known  of  Roanoke  Rapids,  but  lately  sprung  into 
prominence  as  a  manufacturing  settlement,  that  it  will  not  be  im- 
proper in  this  connection  to  give  it  a  passing  mention.  Long  be- 
fore the  day  of  railroads,  the  Roanoke  Navigation  Company,  first 
chartered  in  1812,  did  the  carrying  trade  of  the  Roanoke  River, 
whose  navigable  extent,  including  its  tributaries,  the  Dan  and 
Staunton,  was  something  like  three  hundred  miles,  being  greater 
than  was  "known  to  be  used  anywhere  in  the  United  States."  The 
Roanoke  Canal,  at  and  above  Weldon,  provided  a  great  water- 
power.  The  directors  of  the  Navigation  Company  stated  in  1824, 
"There  is  perhaps  no  place  in  the  United  States,  approached  by 
steamboats,  where  there  is  more  extensive  command  of  water,  and 
where  it  can  be  more  conveniently  applied  to  machinery.  Here 
we  have  eighty  feet  of  fall,  with  a  volume  of  water  thirty  feet  wide 
and  three  deep,  from  a  never-failing  source."  The  advent  of  rail- 
roads, and,  later,  the  civil  war,  destroyed  the  shipping  interests, 
and  the  canal  was  suffered  to  fall  into  disuse.     All  suggestions  for 


WALTER  SCOTT  PARKER  353 

utilizing  the  canal  were  fruitless  until  a  company,  formed  by  Gen- 
eral Mahone  and  Senator  Cameron,  undertook  to  re-open  it  about 
1890.  Near  the  same  time,  possibly  a  little  later.  Major  T.  L. 
Emry,  of  Weldon,  organized  the  Roanoke  Rapids  Power  Com- 
pany, which  constructed  a  canal  near  the  line  of  the  old  one,  and 
developed  some  seven  thousand  horse-power.  Mr.  Parker  became 
interested  in  this  latter  enterprise  in  a  small  way,  but  sufficiently 
to  draw  his  attention  to  the  advantages  of  the  place  for  cotton 
manufacturing  and  lead  to  his  initiation  of  the  company  already 
mentioned.  About  the  same  time  a  party  of  Northern  capitalists 
organized  the  United  Industrial  Company  for  operating  a  knitting 
mill.  These  mills  were  organized  in  the  woods  and  the  materials 
for  their  construction  were  hauled  in  wagons  from  Weldon,  six 
miles  distant.  Other  enterprises  followed,  including  the  damask 
and  silk  mills.  There  is  now  a  mill  village  of  some  two  or  three 
thousand  people,  with  good  railroad  facilities,  schools,  two  Bap- 
tist churches,  one  Methodist  Episcopal  and  one  Episcopal.  The 
splendid  water-power,  and  the  impetus  of  enterprises  already  in 
successful  operation  and  those  projected  for  the  near  future,  give 
promise  of  great  enlargement  of  this  young  manufacturing  settle- 
ment. 

Farming  is  Mr.  Parker's  out-door  recreation  and  gives  him 
greater  delight  than  any  of  his  business  enterprises.  Unlike  most 
persons  who  engage  in  this  occupation  for  pleasure,  he  realizes  a 
profit  from  his  investment.  His  only  known  failure  has  been  in 
Angora  goat-raising.  In  this  he  found  neither  pleasure  nor  profit, 
and  very  feelingly  exposed  through  the  News  and  Observer  the 
fallacious  theory  of  those  who  urge  the  advantages  of  goat-rais- 
ing in  North  Carolina.  His  conclusion  is  that  it  doesn't  pay  to  do 
everything  the  experts  advise. 

In  politics  Mr.  Parker  is  an  intense  and  uncompromising  Demo- 
crat. He  has  not  yet  seen  any  Democratic  blunder  so  bad  as  the 
fundamental  unsoundness  of  Republican  policies.  He  loves  the 
campaign  and  the  convention,  rarely  fails  to  attend  the  precinct 
primary,  and  always  has  a  candidate  whom  he  supports  with  un- 
wavering loyalty.     He  asks  nothing  for  himself  but  a  fair  tax 


354  NORTH  CAROLINA 

rate.     He  has  been  mayor  of  Toisnot  and  was  an  alternate  dele- 
gate to  the  National  Democratic  Convention  in  1900. 

It  is  in  his  home  and  family,  however,  that  he  finds  greatest 
pleasure.  Though  a  member  of  the  Croatan  Club,  and  one  of  its 
board  of  managers,  his  leisure  is  given  to  his  family  and  to  his 
choice  Hbrary,  in  which  he  takes  great  delight.  His  taste  in  read- 
ing takes  a  wide  range.  As  a  student  and  bookman  he  passes 
many  hours  with  the  old  classics  in  communion  with  the  master 
minds  of  past  days.  As  a  business  man  he  is  alert  to  know  every 
new  achievement  in  the  scientific  and  intellectual  world  of  to-day. 
As  a  man  of  broad  sympathy,  and  in  intimate  touch  with  men  and 
women,  he  finds  their  fancied  experiences  as  represented  in  fiction 
real  to  his  imagination.  He  sows  beside  all  literary  waters,  and 
reaps  a  harvest  of  large  mental  culture  and  varied  information. 

His  elegant  home  on  Andrews  Avenue  is  the  centre  of  a  bounti- 
ful and  easy  hospitality.  His  accomplished  wife  and  daughters 
are  active  and  prominent  members  of  the  patriotic  societies  and 
women's  clubs,  and  the  brightest  and  most  influential  women  of 
the  town  and  State  are  often  gathered  in  their  parlors  in  confer- 
ence or  entertainment.  Mrs.  Parker  inherits  from  her  father  the 
friendship  of  the  older  Methodist  preachers,  and  the  older  presid- 
ing elders  and  bishops  of  her  church  find  the  prophet's  chamber 
always  in  order  for  their  coming. 

In  Mr.  Parker  and  his  family  are  combined  the  traditions  and 
ideals  of  the  old  South  with  the  progressiveness  and  larger  accom- 
,  plishment  of  the  new  South. 

Mr.  Parker  was  asked  for  suggestions  to  young  Americans  out 
of  his  own  experience  and  observation.  He  replied :  "Industry 
and  integrity  are  the  main  essentials  for  success ;  self-denial, 
hard  work  and  good  habits.  Close  attention  to  detail  has  gov- 
erned in  all  my  undertakings." 

Thomas  M.  Pittman. 


£r^.  bzii:  a-  Wil&mr^a  &3r-a  KY^ 


^/ 


ffhaS^.l^i^^rappim.  PuAhs^r 


HUGH    PARKS,   SR. 

HEN  the  subject  of  this  sketch  passes  in  review 
before  the  mind's  eye  the  writer  is  reminded  of 
the  "old  oak"  so  often  seen  standing  Hke  a  sen- 
tinel about  the  dwelling  house  on  the  typical 
little  farm  of  Piedmont,  North  Carolina,  sturdy 
and  stately  in  its  matured  strength,  and  majes- 
tic in  its  grim  defiance  of  every  assault  from  mad  wind  or  angry 
storm.  At  the  end  of  nearly  fourscore  busy  years  Hugh  Parks, 
Sr.,  in  the  zenith  of  his  matured  powers,  resembles  the  oak  in  the 
solid  strength  and  majestic  symmetry  of  his  severely-  built  and 
well-rounded  character. 

In  a  scant  home,  on  a  lowly  farm,  cut  and  hewn  out  of  the  pri- 
meval forest  that  covered  southeastern  Randolph,  on  the  8th  day 
of  February,  1827,  his  tender  ears  first  caught  the  sound  of  the 
music  of  the  running  waters  of  Deep  River,  on  whose  banks  he 
has  wrought  and  toiled  in  the  battles  of  these  eventful  years.  Like 
the  great  majority  of  the  boys  of  his  day  and  place,  he  was  with- 
out the  means  necessary  to  obtain  a  collegiate  education,  and  his 
early  advantages  were  such  only  as  could  be  obtained  in  a  sparsely 
settled  "neck  of  the  backwoods"  remote  from  all  commercial  and 
educational  influences.  The  boy  of  that  day  never  read  a  news- 
paper or  a  magazine,  and  a  railroad  was  to  him  what  the  "naviga- 
tion of  the  air"  is  to  the  small  boy  of  to-day.  The  environments 
of  eighty  years  ago — "the  paths  our  fathers  trod" — are  paths 


356  NORTH  CAROLINA 

along  which  the  teacher  of  to-day  may  wander  with  profit  and 
gather  figs  instead  of  thistles  for  his  pupils. 

It  was  in  the  severe  training  of  the  farm  during  the  first  twenty- 
five  years  of  his  life  that  Mr.  Parks  acquired  his  habits  of  work, 
and  during  these  years  from  occasional  attendance  at  the  common 
schools  and  one  term  each  under  John  D.  Clancy  and  Mr.  J.  H. 
Brooks  at  Asheboro  he  was  enabled,  largely  by  his  own  efforts,  to 
obtain  what  was  called  in  those  days  a  "common  school  educa- 
tion." This  was  supplemented  by  the  study  and  experience  of 
about  four  years  in  teaching  in  different  districts.  It  was  in  1852 
that  he  entered  the  general  store  of  Mr.  Isaac  H.  Foust,  in  that 
day  one  of  the  largest  merchants  and  planters  of  the  country,  and 
began  work  as  salesman  and  merchant.  Here  he  continued  until 
1858,  when,  in  partnership  with  G.  W.  Williams  and  John  D.  Wil- 
liams of  Fayetteville,  North  Carolina,  J.  M.  Coffin  of  Salisbury, 
North  Carolina,  and  his  employer,  Mr.  Foust,  he  bought  the  plant 
of  the  Randolph  Manufacturing  Company,  then  known  as  the 
Island  Ford  Mills. 

Here  began  his  life's  work — the  erection  of  the  monument  which 
shall  perpetuate  his  name.  The  purchase  of  this  property  fulfilled 
the  dream  of  his  youth.  The  day  he  assumed  the  management  of 
this  property  was  the  proudest  of  his  long  life.  He  planted  there 
ever}-  hard-earned  penny  he  had  brought  from  the  farm,  the  school 
and  the  counter.  In  the  prime  of  his  young,  robust  manhood, 
hardened  and  severely  trained  by  the  toil  of  his  earlier  years,  in- 
spired by  the  confidence  reposed  in  him  by  his  partners  (the  best 
and  most  successful  men  of  their  day),  ambitious  to  achieve 
success,  he  seized  with  the  grip  of  a  master  this  opportunity  of  his 
life,  and,  practically  unaided  and  inexperienced,  launched  into  the 
manufacture  of  cotton  goods,  mastered  every  detail  of  the  business, 
and  made  dividends  for  his  partners  and  a  fortune  for  himself.  He 
is  now  the  sole  survivor  of  that  group  of  splendid  men,  and  years 
ago  became  the  sole  proprietor  of  their  interests  in  this  company. 
He  held  the  position  of  secretary  and  treasurer  of  this  company 
from  1858  to  1903,  when  he  voluntarily  surrendered  the  same  to 
his  son,  Hugh  Parks,  Jr.,  and  assumed  the  presidency,  in  which 


HUGH  PARKS,  SR.  357 

position  he  still  gives  to  the  company  the  ripened  wisdom  of  his 
declining  years. 

Under  his  management  the  Island  Ford  Mill,  a  quaint  old 
wooden  factory  building  with  about  twenty-five  looms  and  1700 
spindles  at  the  time  of  the  purchase  in  1858,  has  grown  and  ex- 
panded in  name  and  size  until  to-day  it  stands  in  the  name  of  the 
Randolph  Manufacturing  Company,  one  of  the  strongest  corpora- 
tions of  Randolph  County,  equipped  with  spacious  modern  struc- 
tures of  brick  and  filled  with  looms  and  spindles  of  the  latest  im- 
provement. Within  a  half  a  mile  of  this  plant  stand  the  flourish- 
ing mills  of  the  Franklinville  Manufacturing  Company,  of  which 
Mr.  Parks  is  president  and  a  director,  and  whose  genius  has  con- 
tributed largely  to  its  building,  expansion  and  success.  These 
two  mills  are  located  on  Deep  River,  around  which  the  prosperous 
village  of  Franklinville  has  been  built  on  a  branch  line  of  the  great 
Southern  Railway.  These  mills,  under  the  directing  genius  and 
conservative  management  of  their  owners,  have  not  only  made 
money  and  wealth  for  themselves,  but  have  contributed  particu- 
larly to  the  substantial  prosperity  of  the  agricultural  country  ad- 
jacent to  and  surrounding  them  by  providing  an  ample  market  for 
the  products  of  the  farm,  and  generally  to  the  uplifting  and  up- 
building of  the  whole  county. 

For  nearly  the  half  of  a  century  these  mills  stood  without  a 
railroad  on  the  quiet  banks  of  the  river,  building  slowly  but  surely 
for  themselves  and  the  county.  Their  stock  was  not  heralded  in 
the  money  markets.  No  bank  was  troubled  to  clip  their  coupons. 
No  trust  company  was  asked  to  accept  their  mortgage.  They 
gave  none.  They  relied  upon  their  own  resources.  The  judg- 
ment docket  of  the  court  was  never  adorned  with  their  names. 
The  word  of  Hugh  Parks  was  as  good  as  his  bond,  and  his  bond  is 
and  always  has  been  above  par. 

These  mills  with  their  mercantile  establishments,  lands  and  other 
belongings,  constitute  his  life-work,  and  they  are  the  living  record 
of  that  economy,  energy,  perseverance,  honesty,  truth  and  good 
moral  deportment  "with  which,"  he  himself  has  wisely  said,  "any 
young  man  may  win  success."     They  are  the  crowning  evidence 


358  NORTH  CAROLINA 

of  the  virtues,  the  self-denials,  the  sacrifices  and  the  struggles  of  a 
sturdy,  sober  and  strenuous  life. 

It  is  to  be  noted  that  no  summary  of  his  achievements  would 
be  complete  without  the  recital  of  two  facts.  First,  he  never  left 
the  community  in  which  he  was  born  and  reared.  There,  among 
his  fellows  with  whom  he  started  in  the  race  of  life  on  the  same  old 
hills,  he  has  wrought,  toiled,  won  and  now  towers  as  the  leader. 

Secondly,  he  was  a  pioneer  in  his  special  line.  He  blazed  the 
way.  It  was  nearly  two  decades  after  he  started  before  John  B. 
Randleman,  John  H.  Ferree,  O.  R.  Cox,  Dr.  J.  M.  Worth,  J.  E. 
Walker,  T.  C.  Worth,  W.  H.  Watkins,  Robert  P.  Dicks,  J.  A.  Cole, 
A.  W.  E.  Caple,  T.  L.  Chisholm,  S.  Bryant,  S.  G.  Newlin  and 
other  manufacturers  of  that  county  embarked  in  the  business. 
While  Mr.  John  B.  Elliott,  Mr.  A.  S.  Homey,  Mr.  George  H. 
Makepeace,  Mr.  Samuel  Walker,  Mr.  Dennis  Curtis,  Mr.  Ben- 
jamin Moffitt,  and  others,  were  at  different  times  engaged  in  the 
business,  none  of  them  made  it  exclusively  their  life-work.  To 
Hugh  Parks  must  be  accorded  the  distinction  of  being  the  lead- 
ing pioneer  manufacturer  of  Randolph  County. 

He  could  have  gone  elsewhere,  as  did  Mr.  J.  M.  Odell,  Mr.  J.  A. 
Odell  and  others,  and  made  more  fame  and  a  greater  fortune; 
for  he  is  built  of  the  stufif  that  wins  anywhere  and  everywhere, 
but  it  is  doubtful  if  he  could  have  been  more  useful  elsewhere  in 
the  accomplishment  of  good  for  himself  and  his  county.  His. 
work  and  the  influence  of  it  have  been  potent  factors  in  the  growth 
and  development  of  the  county  of  Randolph  and  in  the  Piedmont 
belt  of  North  Carolina. 

It  is  a  great  thing  to  live  and  succeed  at  any  time,  but  it  re- 
quired superior  talent  to  live  and  succeed  through  the  dark  hours 
and  stirring  events  of  some  of  the  years  since  1858.  In  some  of 
these  years  there  were  storms  firece  and  destructive.  Across  his. 
pathway  winds,  mad  and  adverse,  swept  with  relentless  fury.  Over 
many  an  angry  wave  he  has  watched  his  frail  bark  with  bated 
breath.  The  summit  on  which  he  stands  serene  to-day  in  the 
majesty  of  uncrowned  age  and  in  the  enjoyment  of  a  comfortable- 
fortune  cannot  be  appreciated  without  a  count  of  the  odds  and 


HUGH  PARKS,  SR.  359 

obstacles  which  marked  the  earher  and  darker  days  of  doubt  and 
fear. 

Two  influences  added  to  his  courage  at  all  times.  His  inherit- 
ance from  his  parents,  John  Parks  and  Sarah  Parks,  who  were 
of  the  salt  of  the  earth,  was  honesty,  truth,  justice,  industry,  and 
integrity  in  all  things.  Into  his  life  on  the  22d  of  July,  1868, 
there  came  a  new  influence — a  helpmeet  in  the  person  of  Miss 
Eliza  Cook,  of  Fayetteville,  North  Carolina,  who  blessed  his  home 
with  four  children,  all  of  whom,  save  one,  have  passed  into  "the 
narrow  aisle."  In  the  twilight  of  the  evening  of  his  well-spent 
life  these  tender  memories  come  back  to  shed  their  hallowed  ra- 
diance over  the  lengthening  shadow. 

Another  striking  feature  of  the  life  of  Mr.  Parks  is  his  modesty 
and  his  aversion  to  anything  like  display  or  notoriety.  He  has 
never  held  public  office,  save  that  of  county  commissioner.  Purely 
for  the  accommodation  of  his  neighbors,  he  has  held  the  posi- 
tion of  a  justice  of  the  peace  for  forty-two  years.  Time  and  again 
he  has  been  tendered  political  honors,  but  no  inducement,  however 
exalted  or  enticing,  could  tempt  him  to  neglect  his  life-work.  And 
yet,  while  always  attentive  to  his  private  business,  he  never  fails  to 
discharge  his  full  duty  as  a  citizen  in  the  primary  and  at  the  bal- 
lot box.  He  is  a  Democrat  of  the  Andrew  Jackson  class  with  the 
courage  of  his  convictions  and  the  conviction  of  his  courage. 
In  the  support  of  his  church,  the  Methodist,  in  aid  of  schools 
and  all  other  movements  for  the  good  of  his  community,  he  is  al- 
ways broad-gauged  and  public-spirited,  measuring  up  to  the  ideal 
standard  of  a  model  citizen.  A  pigmy  may  give  a  mortgage  on 
inherited  realty  and  start  a  cotton  mill  with  open  markets  to-day, 
but  it  took  a  giant  to  launch  one  in  1858  and  keep  her  above  the 
wave. 

History  has  done  scant  justice  to  the  real  men  who  have  lit- 
erally shouldered  North  Carolina  since  1865  and  put  her  on  her 
feet.  The  wondrous  achievements  of  the  last  three  decades  are 
not  to  be  credited  to  those  who  have  made  the  most  noise  and 
figured  most  conspicuously  in  all  the  newspapers.  The  student  of 
history,  who  in  the  future  shall  seek  the  causes  or  forces  which 


36o 


NORTH  CAROLINA 


have  contributed  most  to  our  industrial  enterprises,  cannot  over- 
look that  quiet,  unassuming  class  of  our  citizenship  who  have  made 
possible  this  revolution  and  who  are  doing  the  real  work.  Hugh 
Parks  is  a  leader  in  this  class.  To  him  and  men  of  his  class  and 
stamp  North  Carolina  is  indebted  for  what  she  is  and  has  to-day. 

G.  S.  Bradshaw. 


.„^*^y^^^?l*fe».' 


S^'-,  Ou  i:  ij  li-T//,^".^  Jf,Bf-^ 


ROBERT    BRUCE    PEEBLES 


HE  student  of  English  history  will  not  fail  to 
discover  that  the  power  and  prosperity  of  the 
colonial  possessions  of  Great  Britain  in  every 
quarter  of  the  globe  have  been  largely  aug- 
V-^^^^^l^^  mented  by  the  Scotch  race.  Although  devot- 
piJ^^^^^^^^  edly  attached  in  every  age  to  the  traditions  and 
glory  of  their  country,  with  a  chivalrous  and  romantic  love  for  its 
wild  and  attractive  scenery,  their  spirit  of  enterprise  and  love  of 
adventure  has  often  led  them  to  bid  farewell  to  the  land  so  dear 
to  them  and  seek  homes  in  other  regions,  where  there  was  greater 
reward  for  their  daring,  their  industry  and  thrift.  They  can  be 
found  in  Canada,  Australia,  South  Africa,  India  and  wherever 
the  flag  of  the  English  Empire  waves  from  the  rising  to  the  set- 
ting sun.  Many  emigrated  to  this  country  in  the  eighteenth  cen- 
tury, and  both  they  and  their  descendants  have  ever  been  recog- 
nized as  most  desirable  citizens,  attached  to  free  institutions  and 
ready  to  defend  them  with  their  lives.  Among  those  who 
sought  our  shores  were  John  Turner  Peebles  and  his  brother, 
Robert  Peebles.  They  emigrated  from  Peebleshire,  Scotland,  and 
settled  in  Northampton  County  in  this  State.  Both  were  earnest 
and  unflinching  advocates  of  the  independence  of  the  col- 
onies. The  former  was  the  paternal  grandfather  of  Judge  Robert 
Bruce  Peebles.    His  brother,  Robert,  was  a  member  of  the  Provin- 


362  NORTH  CAROLINA 

cial  Congress,  November  12,  1776,  and  represented  Northampton 
County  five  times  in  the  House  of  Commons.  He  also  served  as 
Captain  in  the  Revolutionary  army. 

Robert  B.  Peebles  was  born  July  21,  1840,  near  Jackson,  in 
Northampton  County.  His  father,  Ethelred  J.  Peebles,  was  a 
planter.  He  was  respected  by  all  who  knew  him  for  his  sterling 
qualities  of  head  and  heart.  His  mother,  Lucretia  Tyner,  was  a 
woman  of  great  force  of  character,  of  a  gentle  and  attractive  dis- 
position, who  was  devoted  to  the  fortunes  and  interests  of  her 
husband  and  children.  She  ever  exercised  a  large  influence  over 
both  and  contributed  greatly  to  their  prosperity  and  happiness. 
Her  father,  Nicholas  Tyner,  in  his  day  was  a  man  of  influence. 
He  took  an  active  part  in  the  Revolutionary  War  and  participated 
in  the  Battle  of  Guilford  Court  House. 

Judge  Peebles  inherited  from  his  parents  a  strong  physical  con- 
stitution, and  from  the  early  days  of  his  boyhood  he  manifested  a 
love  for  outdoor  sports.  He  has  ever  been  passionately  fond  of 
hunting  and  fishing,  especially  the  latter.  Neither  the  strain  of 
professional  work  nor  political  or  judicial  honors  have  eradicated 
or  lessened  this  desire.  Whenever  a  short  vacation  from  work, 
even  in  later  years,  has  furnished  the  opportunity,  it  mattered  not 
what  was  the  season  of  the  year,  he  would  gather  some  of  his 
friends  and  carry  them  to  his  home  and  enjoy  with  them  the 
fishing  in  the  different  ponds  of  Northampton  County,  so  well 
known  to  him,  with  as  much  zest  and  delight  as  when  a  boy.  But 
even  when  a  lad  he  never  allowed  such  pleasures  to  interfere  with 
his  habits  of  study  or  his  duties.  As  a  youth  he  was  both  stu- 
dious and  thoughtful.  He  was  prepared  for  college  at  J.  H. 
Horner's  celebrated  school,  at  Oxford,  in  Granville  County,  and 
entered  the  University  of  North  Carolina  in  1859.  From  both 
these  institutions  he  received  the  highest  honors  as  a  scholar.  His 
stay  at  the  university,  however,  was  cut  short  during  his  junior 
year  by  the  commencement  of  hostilities  between  the  North  and 
the  South.  While  there  he  was  a  member  of  the  Philanthropic 
Society  and  of  the  Zeta  Psi  Fraternity,  in  both  of  which  he  held 
high  positions.    In  obedience  to  what  he  considered  to  be  his  duty. 


ROBERT  BRUCE  PEEBLES         363 

he  relinquished  the  honors  and  pleasures  of  university  life  and  in 
August,  1861,  joined  the  Confederate  army. 

His  record  as  a  soldier  was  exceptionally  brilliant,  even  among 
comrades  who  were  all  brave.  It  deserves  a  more  extended  notice 
than  the  limited  space  in  this  sketch  will  permit.  He  first  saw 
service  as  a  private  in  Company  E,  56th  North  Carolina  Regi- 
ment. He  was  promoted  for  good  conduct  to  a  lieutenantcy  in 
the  same  company  and  was  afterwards  made  adjutant  of  the  35th 
Regiment.  He  fought  at  Petersburg,  Drury's  Lane,  Bermuda 
Hundreds,  Plymouth  and  oh  many  other  fields  with  a  disregard 
for  his  own  life  which  endeared  him  to  all  who  loved  the  cause  for 
which  he  and  they  struggled.  During  the  last  days  of  the  Confed- 
eracy, so  full  of  disaster  and  yet  of  glory,  he  was  especially  distin- 
guished. He  was  the  last  man  to  leave  Fort  Steadman  on  March 
25,  1865.  At  Five  Forks  he  won  the  admiration  of  all  who  wit- 
nessed his  conduct,  and  in  recognition  of  his  services  was  on  that 
battlefield  made  assistant  adjutant-general  of  General  Matt  W. 
Ransom's  brigade.  In  the  army  of  Northern  Virginia  he  estab- 
lished for  all  time  a  reputation  for  cool  and  determined  courage, 
equalled  by  few  and  surpassed  by  none. 

At  the  close  of  the  Civil  War  he  assumed  the  new  burdens 
which  devolved  upon  him  with  the  same  resolution  and  deter- 
mination which  he  had  hitherto  manifested  upon  every  theatre  of 
action  to  which  duty  had  called  him.  While  a  boy  he  had  chosen 
the  practice  of  law  as  his  pursuit  during  life.  He  had  no  taste 
for  any  other  profession  or  calling.  He  promptly  commenced  its 
study  at  Chapel  Hill  under  the  guidance  and  instruction  of  Hon- 
orable W.  H.  Battle,  who,  for  many  years,  was  one  of  the  judges 
of  the  Supreme  Court  of  North  Carolina,  and  who  contributed 
by  his  learning  and  integrity  to  its  high  renown.  He  commenced 
his  professional  career  on  the  first  Monday  in  September,  1866, 
as  attorney  for  Northampton  County  in  the  Court  of  Pleas  and 
Quarter  Sessions,  to  which  position  he  had  been  elected  and  which 
he  continued  to  hold  until  that  court  was  abolished  in  August, 
1868.  He  practised  law  with  great  success  until  he  was  elected 
one  of  the  judges  of  the  Superior  Court.    He  appeared  as  counsel 


364  NORTH  CAROLINA 

in  many  cases  of  importance,  and  his  services  were  sought  not 
only  by  the  public  at  large,  but  by  his  brother  lawyers,  who  valued 
highly  his  learning  and  capacity  for  legal  affairs.  No  man  has 
ever  lived  in  North  Carolina  who  had  more  completely  the  con- 
fidence of  his  clients,  whom  he  served  not  only  with  ability,  but 
with  an  aggressive  fidelity  which  attracted  both  their  gratitude 
and  friendship. 

He  has  always  been  an  uncompromising  Democrat,  firm  and  de- 
cided in  his  political  convictions  as  in  all  other  matters.  In  the 
section  of  North  Carolina  in  which  he  lives  he  has  been  for  many 
years  one  of  the  recognized  leaders  of  his  party,  and  when  a  cool 
and  fearless  man  has  been  needed  in  any  campaign,  all  eyes  at 
once  have  been  turned  towards  him,  and  he  has  never  failed  to 
answer  any  call.  Yet  so  broad  and  catholic  are  his  views  of  life 
and  humanity  and  so  kind  and  charitable  his  dealings  with  his  fel- 
low-men, that  those  who  differ  with  him  in  their  political  faith 
hold  him  in  high  esteem  and  many  of  them  entertain  for  him 
warm  personal  regard.  He  was  a  member  of  the  House  of  Com- 
mons in  1866-67  3i^d  ^Iso  in  1883,  1891  and  1895,  the  name  of  that 
branch  of  the  Legislature  having  been  changed  to  the  House  of 
Representatives  by  the  Constitution  of  1868.  He  was  a  trustee  of 
the  University  from  1865  until  his  election  as  judge  in  November, 
1892. 

Judge  Peebles  was  married  on  December  7,  1875,  to  Miss 
Margaret  B.  Cameron,  a  refined  and  accomplished  lady  of  kind 
and  gentle  disposition  and  most  attractive  personality,  who  united 
with  her  husband  in  rendering  his  home  delightful  to  all  their 
friends,  who  ever  received  both  a  most  generous  and  unstinted 
hospitality.  She  was  the  daughter  of  Paul  C.  Cameron,  of  Orange 
County,  a  gentleman  without  reproach  in  its  true  and  proper 
sense,  who  was  respected  wherever  known  for  his  attainments, 
his  integrity  and  morality.  He  was  recognized  throughout  the 
State  as  an  unselfish  friend  to  education  and  especially  to  the  Uni- 
versity. He  gave  to  it  of  his  means  freely  and  was  always  ready 
to  assist  in  any  way  to  advance  its  prosperity  and  usefulness. 
Her  mother,  Annie  Ruffin,  was  the  highest  type  of  a  Christian 


ROBERT  BRUCE  PEEBLES         365 

woman,  who  by  her  presence  made  society  brighter  and  purer  and 
by  the  lesson  of  her  Hfe  elevated  humanity.  She  was  the  daughter 
of  Chief  Justice  Thomas  Ruffin,  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  North 
Carolina,  who  was  recognized  by  common  consent  as  the  greatest 
equity  lawyer  who  has  adorned  the  judicial  annals  of  the  State. 

The  personal  characteristics  of  Judge  Peebles  are  marked  and 
decided.  He  never  evades  any  responsibility,  but  is  positive  in 
all  matters  when  duty  requires  him  to  act.  He  is  absolutely  sin- 
cere, devoid  of  cant,  of  pretence  and  hypocrisy.  He  is  a  human 
man,  full  of  pity  for  the  weak  and  helpless,  for  those  in  distress 
and  poverty,  and  he  has  always  aided  them  gladly,  freely  and  gen- 
erously. To  those  who  know  him  best  he  stands  for  the  highest 
model  of  physical  and  moral  courage,  and  he  has  sustained  a  rep- 
utation for  these  virtues,  with  a  modesty  as  rare  as  it  is  becoming. 

One  of  his  chief  qualities  as  a  presiding  judge  has  been  a  love 
of  truth  and  fair  play.  The  penniless  litigant  and  most  abject 
criminal  in  a  court  over  which  he  presides  will  have  a  trial  as  fair 
and  impartial  as  the  man  of  wealth  and  power.  Born  with  an 
analytical  mind,  patient  in  research,  with  a  memory  which  holds 
tenaciously  and  accurately  to  all  the  material  evidence  in  every 
case,  with  a  power  rarely  equalled  to  discern  promptly  and  state 
clearly  the  legal  principles  upon  which  its  decision  rightfully  de- 
pends, when  elected  judge  he  carried  to  the  bench  qualifica- 
tions of  the  highest  order.  Upright,  firm  and  enlightened  judges 
are  absolutely  essential  to  the  existence  of  a  free  government. 
From  the  foundation  of  our  republic  to  the  present  day  the  judi- 
ciary of  North  Carolina  has  occupied  a  prominent  position  in  the 
estimation  of  the  good  and  great  of  her  sister  States.  In  later 
years,  when  the  impartial  historian  shall  review  the  official  lives 
of  the  judges  of  our  Superior  Court,  he  will  cause  to  be  recorded 
upon  the  pages  which  shall  be  written  for  the  guidance  and  in- 
struction of  the  youth  who  shall  come  after  us,  his  well-consid- 
ered judgment  that  Robert  Bruce  Peebles  ranks  with  the  best 
and  greatest  of  the  Nisi  Prius  judges  of  North  Carolina. 

Charles  M.  Stedman. 


FREDERICK    PHILIPS 

REDERICK  PHILIPS  was  born  in  Edge- 
combe County,  North  Carolina,  June  14,  1838. 
His  father  was  Dr.  James  Jones  PhiHps,  a  man 
of  strong  character,  culture  and  ability ;  his 
mother  was  Plarriet  Amanda  Burt,  a  refined 
and  cultured  woman,  whose  graces  of  character 
rendered  her  a  helpmeet  to  the  skilled  physician.  The  influence 
of  both  parents  was  seen  in  the  son,  but  that  of  the  mother  was 
particularly  strong  and  marked. 

The  youth  was  not  very  robust,  but  as  he  took  readily  to  ath- 
letic sports,  fishing  and  hunting,  and  was  fond  of  horseback  riding, 
his  strength  increased  with  his  growing  manhood.  But  he  did 
not  grow  into  perfect  health  and  strength  until  he  had  spent  a 
)'ear  in  manual  labor  on  the  farm. 

He  studied  in  the  preparatory  schools  at  Tarboro,  his  county 
town,  and  for  several  years  received  instruction  from  Mr. 
Winbourne,  a  noted  educator.  Afterwards  he  attended  St.  James's 
College,  Maryland,  from  which  he  entered  the  University  of 
North  Carolina  at  Chapel  Hill.  He  graduated  from  the  University 
in  1858,  and  entered  at  once  upon  the  study  of  law  in  Judge 
Pearson's  law  school,  completing  the  course  in  i860.  It  will  thus 
be  seen  that  Frederick  Philips  was  given  the  best  training  that 
his  time  and  section  afforded. 

Young  Philips  entered  at  once  upon  the  practice  of  his  profes- 


£1^  hzf£:-/?.r4^r/i^^s'S,3ra.j\rtr 


Cha^  Z,  /^-.  y\%P4-^  Pubfishei 


FREDERICK  PHILIPS  367 

sion  at  Nashville,  North  Carolina,  and  was  appointe'd  clerk  and 
master  in  equity  for  Nash  County.  He  had  thus  made  an  auspi- 
cious beginning  in  his  life-work  when  the  Civil  War  broke  out, 
and  Frederick  Philips  was  among  the  first  to  respond  to  the  call 
of  the  State  to  defend  her  rights  and  the  homes  of  her  people.  He 
saw  active  service  during  the  entire  conflict,  following  Lee  and 
Jackson  and  Pender. 

He  enlisted  in  the  first  company  from  the  county  of  Edgecombe, 
which  was  the  Edgecombe  Guards,  composed  of  200  men,  and 
from  which  company  two  companies  were  later  formed,  our  sub- 
ject being  elected  as  second-lieutenant  of  the  Confederate  Guards, 
with  T.  W.  Battle  as  captain.  The  company  was  made  a  part  of 
the  15th  North  Carolina,  under  the  command  of  General  Mc- 
Kinney,  and  went  immediately  to  Yorktown.  In  the  winter  of 
1861  Lieutenant  Philips  was,  owing  to  ill-health,  compelled  to 
leave  the  service  and  return  home,  where  he  remained  until  after 
the  battles  around  Richmond,  when  he  again  entered  the  service 
as  adjutant  of  the  13th  North  Carolina  Regiment,  commanded  by 
Colonel  F.  M.  Parker,  which  regiment  was  a  part  of  General 
George  B.  Anderson's  brigade  and  General  D.  H.  Hill's  division. 

The  regiment  was  engaged  in  a  number  of  the  most  important 
battles,  among  which  were  those  of  Second  Manassas,  the  one  at 
South  Mountain  and  that  at  Bloody  Lane,  where  our  subject  was 
severely  wounded  while  delivering  the  message  of  the  death  of 
General  Anderson  to  Colonel  Tew,  the  senior  colonel  of  the  regi- 
ment. It  was  indeed  a  hazardous  undertaking,  and  our  subject 
was  compelled  to  crawl  in  front  of  a  heavy  fire  from  one  end  of 
the  regiment  to  the  other  to  deliver  the  message  to  his  command- 
ing officer.  It  was  the  last  message  Colonel  Tew  ever  received, 
for  as  he  arose  to  signal  that  he  understood  the  message  he  was 
killed. 

After  being  laid  up  for  a  number  of  weeks  from  the  wound 
Captain  Philips  received  in  the  scalp  while  delivering  this  mes- 
sage, he  again  returned  to  the  service  and  was  engaged  in  the 
many  battles  in  which  General  D.  H.  Hill  participated,  the  prin- 
cipal of  which  were  the  battles  of  Fredericksburg,  Chancellors- 


368  NORTH  CAROLINA 

vjlle  and  Gettysburg.  In  this  latter  bloody  engagement  Adjutant 
Philips  was  with  Ramseur's  brigade  in  the  all-night  attack. 

At  the  battle  of  Kelly's  Ford,  after  the  retreat  of  General  Lee, 
Mr.  Philips  was  wounded,  having  his  thigh  bone  broken,  and 
was  permanently  disabled.  He  was  compelled  to  go  on  crutches 
for  a  number  of  years  afterwards.  In  the  fall  of  1864  he  was 
assigned  to  do  quartermaster  service  at  Richmond,  but  was  unable 
to  return  to  the  active  service  of  the  Confederacy,  which  he  loved 
and  for  which  he  had  fought  so  gallantly. 

After  the  war  he  returned  to  Tarboro  and  began  anew  the 
practice  of  his  profession.  On  the  14th  of  January,  1864,  he  had 
married  Miss  Martha  S.  Hyman,  and  her  thorough  sympathy 
and  wifely  devotion  became  the  most  important  factor  in  his  life. 
Starting  again  at  the  bottom,  and  in  his  home  town,  he  soon  built 
up  a  lucrative  practice,  and  became  one  of  the  foremost  lawyers 
of  his  section.  He  began  his  life-work  at  Tarboro  as  junior  part- 
ner of  the  late  Honorable  R.  R.  Bridgers.  He  was  engrossing 
clerk  of  the  Legislature  of  1864  and  1865,  and  was  prosecuting 
attorney  for  Nash  County.  He  was  a  staunch  Democrat,  devoted 
to  the  principles  of  his  party,  true  and  unfaltering.  Many  a  time 
he  led  the  forlorn  hope  of  his  section  with  overwhelming  odds 
against  him,  and  he  was  an  active  worker  in  nearly  every  politi- 
cal campaign  for  forty  years.  In  1884  he  was  nominated  and 
elected  judge  of  the  Superior  Court  for  the  Second  Judicial  dis- 
trict, and  became  known  throughout  the  State  for  his  sound  judg- 
ment and  sterling  qualities. 

Upon  his  retirement  from  the  bench  he  did  not  resume  the 
practice  of  law,  but  gave  his  time  and  great  executive  ability  to 
the  management  of  his  large  estate,  consisting  of  farms,  city 
property,  and  investments  in  various  securities.  He  was  ever 
active  in  all  the  affairs  of  life ;  a  devoted  churchman,  being  senior 
warden  of  Calvary  Parish,  Tarboro ;  mayor  of  the  town  of  Tar- 
boro ;  president  of  the  Pamlico  Insurance  and  Banking  Company, 
and  one  of  the  largest  stockholders  and  a  director  of  the  Commer- 
cial and  Farmers'  Bank  in  Raleigh. 

He  was  ever  a  loyal  son  of  the  University  of  North  Carolina, 


FREDERICK  PHILIPS 


369 


long  a  trustee,  and  for  many  3'ears  a  member  of  the  executive 
committee  until  his  death.  He  never  missed  a  commencement 
occasion,  and  always  lent  his  wisdom  and  his  wit  to  the  serious 
councils  and  to  the  social  functions  of  his  Alma  Mater. 

Judge  Philips  died  at  his  home  in  Tarboro  on  January  14, 
1905,  and  North  Carolina  lost  one  of  her  most  patriotic  and  pub- 
lic-spirited sons.  He  was  a  gallant  soldier,  an  upright  judge,  a 
successful  farmer,  and  a  useful  citizen.  In  his  home  life  he  was 
singularly  blessed  and  happy.  His  wife  still  lives  at  the  old  home 
in  Tarboro,  and  among  the  State's  most  esteemed  citizens  are 
their  eight  children,  five  daughters  and  three  sons,  Mrs.  Herbert 
W.  Jackson,  of  Raleigh;  Mrs.  Hal.  G.  Wood,  of  Edenton;  Mrs. 
Dr.  John  F.  Woodward,  of  Norfolk,  Virginia ;  Mrs.  Albert  Pike, 
of  Washington,  D.  C. ;  Miss  Leila  Burt  Philips,  of  Tarboro ;  Dr. 
James  J.  Philips,  Mr.  Frederick  Philips,  and  Mr.  Henry  Hyman 
Philips. 

Collier  Cobb. 


JOSEPH    EZEKIEL    POGUE 


[OSEPH  EZEKIEL  POGUE,  one  of  Raleigh's 
successful  business  men  who  has  been  con- 
nected in  an  influential  way  with  much  that 
has  contributed  to  the  development  of  the  mate- 
rial interests  of  the  capital  of  the  State,  is  one 
of  those  whose  undertakings  have  generally 
been  marked  by  success ;  and  not  only  as  a  citizen  of  Raleigh  has 
he  exerted  a  beneficial  influence,  but  in  a  wider  sphere  he  has  con- 
tributed to  the  promotion  of  agriculture  and  to  the  betterment 
of  the  State,  especially  of  that  section  of  which  Raleigh  is  the 
centre  and  which  is  more  particularly  interested  in  the  State 
Fair.  Mr.  Pogue  is  essentially  a  self-made  man,  and  he  has 
attained  his  influential  position  in  the  capital  city  of  the  State  by 
dint  of  his  unaided  exertions,  his  patriotic  devotion  to  the  best 
interest  of  the  community,  and  to  the  confidence  which  his  meri- 
torious course  in  life  has  inspired  among  his  fellow-citizens. 
Coming  to  Raleigh  a  comparative  stranger,  he  has  attained  an 
enviable  position  and  has  been  of  particular  service  to  his  adopted 
city. 

His  father,  John  Pogue,  was  a  Methodist  minister,  resident 
in  eastern  Tennessee.  He  was  devoted  to  his  calling  and  per- 
formed his  duties  in  life  so  satisfactorily  as  to  enjoy  the  confidence 
and  esteem  of  those  within  his  pastorate.  In  particular  was  he 
highly  regarded   for  his   unswerving  integrity,  his   justness  of 


£:n!^   hi^S  G-.B^r/iams  S.Bj'o.T^iyr 


CaS  L.Vhn.  M^-yi,  P,Jjl,s'ic' 


JOSEPH  EZEKIEL  POGUE  371 

views,  and  his  scrupulous  regard  for  the  rights  and  privileges  of 
others.  He  married  Priscilla  Carter,  whose  father  had  been  a  sol- 
dier in  the  War  of  the  Revolution,  and  who  treasured  the  memory 
of  his  services  in  the  cause  of  Independence  and  instilled  into  her 
son  sentiments  of  patriotic  devotion  to  the  welfare  of  his  country, 
while  also  exercising,  along  with  her  husband,  a  strong  influence 
on  his  moral  and  spiritual  life. 

Mr.  Pogue  was  born  at  Rogersville  Junction,  in  the  County 
of  Jefferson,  Tenn.,  on  the  13th  of  September,  1851.  He  was 
raised  in  the  country  and  blessed  with  excellent  health  and 
indulged  in  youth  in  those  country  sports  which  so  greatly  develop 
the  frame  and  lead  to  robustness  and  vigor  of  constitution.  At 
the  time  when  he  should  have  been  put  to  school,  the  war  was  in 
progress  and  his  educational  advantages  were  limited,  and  he  en- 
joyed only  such  training  as  he  received  at  home  and  in  the  neigh- 
borhood schools.  While  still  a  youth  he  was  employed  on  the 
farm  and  did  steady  labor  for  seven  years,  performing  all  kinds 
of  manual  labor  incident  to  farm  life.  This  work,  bringing  him 
in  close  connection  with  the  laws  of  nature,  resulted  in  a  valuable 
training,  and  taught  him  practically  one  of  the  greatest  lessons  of 
life,  that  to  succeed  he  must  do  well  all  things  that  he  undertook, 
and  that  for  the  best  results  work  had  to  be  properly  performed 
and  done  at  the  right  time.  The  training  received  on  the  farm 
proved  of  great  advantage  to  him  in  after  life,  and  much  of  his 
success  is  to  be  attributed  to  the  energy  of  character  then  devel- 
oped and  to  the  practical  experience  of  those  early  days. 

In  1870  he  left  East  Tennessee  and  coming  to  North  Carolina, 
located  at  Hillsboro,  where  he  became  connected  with  a  tobacco 
factory  and  traveled  as  a  salesman  for  it  at  the  South.  Becoming 
conversant  with  tobacco  and  its  manufacture,  in  1875  he  moved  to 
Henderson  and  there  engaged  in  the  business  of  manufacturing 
tobacco.  His  design  was  to  manufacture  the  best  goods,  and 
fortunately  his  venture  was  a  success  and  his  reputation  as  a 
manufacturer  of  high  grade  tobacco  became  firmly  established, 
and  his  sales  extended  not  merely  to  the  towns  and  hamlets  of 
North   Carolina,  but  throughout  the  adjoining   States   as   well. 


372  NORTH  CAROLINA 

Socially,  he  was  highly  esteemed,  and  he  firmly  established  him- 
self in  the  confidence  of  the  entire  community.  Particularly  was 
he  regarded  as  a  man  of  rare  business  tact  and  judgment  and  one 
of  the  progressive  citizens  of  the  thriving  town. 

On  February  20,  1884,  he  was  happily  married  to  Miss  Hen- 
rietta Kramer,  a  lovely  lady  of  Raleigh,  and  after  nine  years'  suc- 
cessful operation  at  Henderson,  he  removed  to  Raleigh  in  Septem- 
ber, 1885,  where  he  expanded  his  business  and  entered  on  a  still 
more  successful  career  as  a  manufacturer  of  tobacco.  Busily 
engaged  in  his  manufacturing  duties,  Mr.  Pogue  nevertheless  in 
1889  accepted  an  election  as  alderman  of  the  city  of  Raleigh,  and 
during  his  term  inaug-urated  many  plans  of  public  improvement. 
Particularly  did  he  advocate  the  improvement  of  the  streets  which 
has  since  been  so  admirably  accomplished  and  which  has  added 
so  much  to  the  attractiveness  of  the  city  of  Raleigh,  and  he  also 
was  largely  instrumental  in  putting  the  fire  department  on  that 
fine  basis  which  has  ranked  it  among  the  best  in  the  United  States, 
and  which  has  resulted  in  considerably  lov/ering  the  rates  of  insur- 
ance on  Raleigh  property.  He  also  introduced  the  initial  resolu- 
tions to  celebrate  the  centennial  of  the  city,  and  his  movement  cul- 
minated in  one  of  the  finest  displays  that  has  ever  been  witnessed 
in  any  American  town  of  no  greater  population  than  Raleigh.  In- 
deed his  whole  course  as  an  alderman  was  on  a  high  and  patriotic 
plane  and  resulted  largely  to  the  advantage  and  improvement  of 
the  city.  In  1896  he  was  elected  president  of  the  Chamber  of 
Commerce  of  the  city  and  brought  to  his  work  the  same  laudable 
enterprise  which  he  manifested  as  an  alderman,  and  during  the 
three  terms  that  he  presided  over  the  chamber  he  had  the  gratifi- 
cation of  observing  the  beneficial  results  of  the  movements  he 
inaugurated  and  aided  to  bring  to  a  successful  conclusion.  In 
1899  he  was  elected  secretary  of  the  North  Carolina  Agricultural 
Society,  which  position  carries  with  it  the  management  of  all  the 
details  of  the  State  Fair  under  the  direction  of  the  president  of  the 
society.  Especially  has  his  administration  been  signalized  by  an 
enlargement  of  the  grounds,  the  purification  of  the  midway,  and 
by  rendering  that  annual  gathering  more  attractive  year  by  year. 


JOSEPH  EZEKIEL  POGUE  373 

The  association  at  the  time  he  became  secretary  had  long  been  in 
financial  straits  and  its  operations  hampered  for  the  want  of 
means ;  but  his  wise  and  energetic  action  was  rewarded  with  great 
success,  and  the  gate  receipts  have  been  increased  four-fold,  and 
the  crowds  wliich  have  been  drawn  to  the  Fair  have  on  some  days 
numbered  over  twenty  thousand.  The  object  of  the  society  is  the 
improvement  of  agriculture,  and  the  benefits  which  he  has  aided 
in  accomplishing  for  the  agricultural  interest  of  the  central  portion 
of  the  State  have  been  notable.  And  at  this  writing  he  has  in 
view  the  submission  of  other  plans  for  the  promotion  of  agriculture 
in  the  State  and  advancement  of  that  industry  in  which  so  many 
of  our  people  are  engaged. 

Mr.  Pogue  has  ever  been  Democratic  in  his  political  afiilia- 
tions,  and  he  has  been  active  in  local  politics  for  the  sole  purpose 
of  advancing  the  interests  of  the  city,  improving  the  city  govern- 
ment and  introducing  better  methods  of  administration.  Seeking 
purer  methods  of  local  government,  he  made  a  bold,  strenuous, 
persistent  and  successful  opposition  to  ring  rule.  He  is  a 
member  of  the  Independent  Order  of  Odd  Fellows  and  of  the  Im- 
proved Order  of  Red  Men,  and  he  has  passed  the  chairs  in  both 
organizations,  and  has  represented  the  former  in  the  meeting  of 
the  Grand  Lodge  of  the  State  and  in  the  latter  he  now  is  the  Great 
Junior  Sagamore  in  the  State  Council.  He  is  also  an  honorary 
member  of  the  Junior  Order  of  American  Mechanics. 

In  the  midst  of  the  duties  of  a  busy  life  Mr.  Pogue  still  finds 
time  to  gratify  his  inclination  for  reading,  and  the  books  which 
have  been  favorites  of  his  are  chiefly  histories.  Particularly  has 
he  been  interested  in  historical  literature  dealing  with  Cromwell 
and  Napoleon,  and  with  the  colonial  period  in  America.  The 
exercise  which  he  chiefly  enjoys  is  active  outdoor  exertions,  but 
still  he  uses  the  dumb-bells,  which  he  finds  of  advantage  in  the 
way  of  physical  benefit,  and  which  has  tended  to  maintain  his  uni- 
form good  health. 

He  regards  that  his  success  is  largely  due  to  his  early  train- 
ing on  the  farm  and  the  development  of  his  character  and  capacity 
while  in  contact  with  men  in  active  life.    Especially  when  travel- 


374  NORTH  CAROLINA 

ing  as  a  salesman  throughout  the  Southern  and  Western  States, 
his  association  with  the  commercial  men  with  whom  he  was 
thrown  tended  to  stimulate  his  ambition  to  succeed,  and  his  experi- 
ence at  that  time  was  of  incalculable  benefit  in  his  business  affairs. 
Being  asked  for  some  suggestion  for  the  advantage  of  the 
young  men  of  to-day,  he  says : 

"In  this  day  of  strenuous  competition  it  takes  the  best  there  is  in  any 
man  to  succeed.  The  prize,  however,  is  in  reach  of  every  young  man  of 
average  physical  and  mental  capacity.  A  sound  body  is  the  most  valuable 
asset,  coupled  with  the  proper  intellectual  and  moral  training,  together 
with  a  correct  decision  as  to  what  occupation  in  life  his  talents  best  qualify 
him  to  pursue.  Study  the  Bible  diligently  and  follow  its  teachings.  Piti- 
ful indeed  is  the  career  of  any  man,  however  brilliant  and  successful,  who 
forgets  God  and  is  unmindful  of  his  mercies." 

Mr.  Pogue's  married  life  has  been  very  happy.  Mrs.  Pogue, 
educated  at  St.  Mary's,  is  a  lady  not  only  of  a  lovely  personality, 
but  of  unusual  culture;  and  she  is  a  general  favorite  in  a  wide 
circle  of  appreciative  friends.  They  have  one  son  living,  Joseph 
E.  Pogue,  Jr.,  whose  course  at  the  University  of  North  Carolina 
has  gained  him  the  esteem  and  admiration  of  the  Faculty  and  has 
given  great  satisfaction  to  his  parents. 

S.  A.  Ashe. 


-  >  >  ^  i.  H.',  /■^eppat  fui^is^er. 


^-7?  &ui:.G  W/Au^^   d'Bi-o    A^  y^ 


LUCY   H.    ROBERTSON 


OR  many  years  Mrs.  Lucy  H.  Robertson  has 
been  widely  known  in  educational  circles 
throughout  the  State.  At  the  time  of  her  birth 
the  conception  of  true  womanhood  was  rapidly 
changing.  Happily,  the  period  had  passed 
when  the  only  future  planned  for  a  girl  was 
that  her  personality  might  be  absorbed  by  one  more  masterful 
than  her  own  by  right  of  sex,  if  not  of  sense,  and  men  were 
frankly  admitting  abilities  and  possibilities  for  a  career  once 
thought  neither  possible  nor  desirable.  But  the  period  of  the 
highest  type  of  true  chivalry  had  not  fully  dawned — that  period 
in  which  strong  men  of  knightly  spirit  are  striving  to  remove 
every  obstacle  in  the  way  of  her  full  development.  In  all  ages 
the  best  poetry  and  the  finest  romance  have  implied  a  peculiar 
excellence  in  woman,  but  not  until  this  age  have  attempts  been 
made  to  define  her  sphere  of  action  and  influence,  especially  to 
warn  her  against  what  she  may  not  be  and  do. 

It  is  not  too  much  to  say  of  Mrs.  Robertson  that  she  embodies 
the  highest  ideals  of  both  the  present  and  the  past.  For  first  of 
all  she  is  a  womanly  woman.  Altogether,  aside  from  class-room 
work,  she  possesses  a  broad  culture,  a  large  outlook  upon  life, 
a  dignity  and  poise  of  manner,  together  with  a  kindliness  of 
heart  that  make  her  most  attractive  and  lovable.  Evidently  the 
materials  of  knowledge  have  been  used  to  build  up  and  adorn 


376  NORTH  CAROLINA 

the  inner  life,  and  the  fruits  of  much  reading  and  thinking  ap- 
pear not  in  an  ostentatious  display  of  learning,  but  in  the  "fine 
cordial  of  distilled  wisdom."  While  fully  equal  to  any  occasion 
that  may  call  her  before  the  public,  it  is  always  from  a  stern 
sense  of  duty  and  with  an  inward  shrinking  she  responds  to  such 
calls.  Not  because  she  has  ambitiously  sought  them  have  honor 
and  high  position  come  to  her,  but  because  of  a  holy  purpose  to 
make  the  most  of  her  opportunities  and  to  use  her  powers,  both 
native  and  acquired,  in  the  service  of  her  fellowmen.  Because, 
too,  she  has  recognized  a  Fatherly  Providence  over  her  life,  whose 
guiding  hand  she  has  ever  obediently  followed,  though  some- 
times with  the  sob  of  a  crying  child.  Lacking  these  minor  chords 
her  life  might  not  have  been  the  perfect  symphony  it  is.  This 
type  of  woman  Dr.  Van  Dyke  must  have  had  in  mind  when  with 
such  keen  insight  he  penned  that  exquisite  picture  of  womanly 
excellence:  "A  serene  and  gentle  dignity;  a  tranquil  wisdom 
to  counsel  and  restrain ;  a  fine  delicacy  of  feeling,  quick  to  re- 
joice, tender  to  suffer,  yet  patient  to  endure;  a  subtle  sense  of  the 
values  of  small,  unpurchasable  things ;  a  power  of  great  con- 
fidence and  of  self-sacrifice  almost  limitless  where  love  speaks 
the  word  and  duty  shows  the  task ;  an  instinct  of  protection,  and 
a  joyful  pride  in  mothering  the  weak ;  a  brave  loyalty  to  the 
rights  of  the  heart  against  the  'freezing  reason's  colder  part' ; 
a  noble  hunger  and  thirst  for  harmony ;  an  impregnable  strength  of 
personal  reserve ;  and  an  inexhaustible  generosity  of  personal  sur- 
render— these  are  the  native  glories  of  womanhood.  These  are  the 
things  that  life,  if  true  and  well  ordered,  should  deepen,  unfold, 
brighten  and  harmonize  in  the  perfection  of  a  woman's  character." 

The  bare  annals  of  Mrs.  Robertson's  life  make  a  brief  story, 
but  to  follow  the  upward  course  of  its  events,  to  trace  the  in- 
fluences that  have  moulded  it,  to  catch  some  of  its  music,  to  under- 
stand its  heart  throbs,  to  record  some  of  its  triumphs,  is  to  tran- 
scribe a  lesson  that  may  be  handed  down  as  a  rich  treasure  to 
all  other  women. 

In  a  Christian  home  where  love  reigns,  where  the  simple 
comforts  of  life  abound,  where  self  restraint  is  wisely  taught. 


LUCY  H.  ROBERTSON  377 

where  parents  sacrifice  that  children  may  have  better  advantages 
than  their  own,  nearly  every  forceful  life  may  trace  its  beginnings. 
To  such  a  home,  in  the  town  of  Warrenton,  September  15,  1850, 
Lucy  Henderson  Owen  was  given — a  daughter  richly  dowered 
in  person,  mind  and  heart.  If  we  believe,  with  Oliver  Wendell 
Holmes,  that  the  best  training  begins  a  hundred  years  before 
one's  birth,  then  this  birthright  was  hers  from  a  noble  and  cul- 
tivated ancestry.  Her  father,  a  merchant  by  occupation,  was  a 
man  of  great  industry  and  sterling  integrity,  and  her  mother  a 
woman  of  such  strong  character  and  remarkable  energy  as  to 
make  her  a  striking  personality  in  any  community.  Teaching 
having  been  a  profession  in  the  family  for  nearly  half  a  century, 
it  was  a  natural  ambition  that  the  daughter  should  be  well  fitted 
for  this  work.  In  1852  a  move  was  made  to  Chapel  Hill,  and  a 
few  years  later  to  Hillsboro,  then  one  of  the  centers  of  the  social 
and  intellectual  life  of  the  State.  In  this  refined  and  cultivated 
atmosphere  her  girlhood  days  were  happily  spent.  The  school 
of  the  Misses  Nash  and  Kulloch  was  in  the  height  of  its  pros- 
perity, and  girls  were  attracted  thither  from  far  and  near  by  the 
acknowledged  thoroughness  of  its  instruction.  For  seven  years 
Lucy  Owen  was  one  of  its  brightest  and  best  pupils.  With  eager 
docility  she  mastered  its  curriculum  and  afterwards  spent  two 
studious  years  in  the  Chowan  Baptist  Institute,  of  which  her 
uncle  by  marriage.  Dr.  Archibald  McDowell,  was  president,  with 
her  own  aunt,  Mrs.  Mary  McDowell,  as  his  able  assistant  both  in 
teaching  and  in  the  management  of  the  school.  The  war  be- 
tween the  States  had  just  closed  with  its  impoverishing  results, 
and  the  higher  colleges  for  women  like  Vassar,  which  now 
numbers  its  students  by  something  less  than  a  thousand,  were 
considered  an  innovation,  subject  to  criticism  and  ridicule. 
To  one  of  these  colleges,  however,  under  more  favorable  cir- 
cumstances, this  girl  of  many  talents  might  have  been  irresistibly 
drawn.  But  scarcely  conscious  of  superior  mental  endowments, 
she  was  not  dreaming  of  a  career  dififerent  from  that  of  other 
girls;  and  a  year  after  graduation  she  was  married  to  Dr.  D.  A. 
Robertson,  a  resident  of  Hillsboro. 


378  NORTH  CAROLINA 

A  deeply  religious  nature  has  always  been  one  of  Mrs.  Robert- 
son's characteristics.  Hardly  can  she  remember  when  she  did  not 
think  seriously  on  religious  subjects,  and  when  about  twenty 
years  of  age,  with  intelligent  knowledge  of  its  history,  doctrines 
and  polity,  she  connected  herself  with  the  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church  South.  In  this  church  of  her  choice  she  has  exerted 
an  ever-widening  circle  of  influence. 

Professionally,  Dr.  Robertson  stood  with  the  highest,  and  as 
a  citizen  was  public  spirited  and  useful.  In  1872,  with  his  young 
wife,  he  moved  to  Greensboro,  where  they  at  once  set  up  a  charm- 
ing home  and  thoroughly  identified  themselves  with  the  best  in- 
terests of  their  adopted  city.  Mrs.  Robertson's  social  gifts  and 
graces  were  speedily  recognized,  and  with  a  rare  personal  charm 
she  attracted  and  held  a  host  of  admiring  friends. 

Christian  womanhood  in  its  organized  capacity  was  then  just 
coming  to  the  front,  and  women  with  ideas  and  capacity  for 
leadership  were  in  demand.  The  Woman's  Christian  Temperance 
Union  found  in  her  a  staunch  supporter,  and  in  the  Woman's 
Foreign  Missionary  Society  she  has,  from  its  organization,  been 
a  strong,  successful  leader.  For  several  years  she  was  vice-presi- 
dent of  the  North  Carolina  Conference  Society,  and  when  this 
Conference  was  divided  in  1890,  she  was  elected  president  of  the 
Western  Society.  This  office  she  has  held  by  a  unanimous  ballot 
from  year  to  year.  As  a  presiding  officer  she  has  been  fre- 
quently compared  to  a  bishop,  with  such  ease  and  dignity  does  she 
preside  over  this  intelligent  body  of  women,  whose  love  and  ad- 
miration for  her  know  no  bounds. 

In  the  meantime  additional  cares  had  come  to  Mrs.  Robertson 
in  the  birth  of  two  sons,  but  notwithstanding  accumulating  re- 
sponsibilities she  never  neglected  the  intellectual  or  the  aesthetic 
side  of  her  nature.  She  had  the  wisdom  to  discern  that  while 
the  mechanism  of  education  was  past,  the  processes  of  growth 
are  not  confined  within  college  walls ;  that  a  close  friendship 
with  books  makes  one  heir  to  the  world's  treasury  of  thought 
and  knowledge,  and  that  to  eyes  that  can  see  and  to  ears  that  can 
hear  a  whole  universe  of  beauty  may  speak.     To  read,  to  travel, 


LUCY  H.  ROBERTSON  379 

to  indulge  a  decided  artistic  taste  were  her  chief  delights.  A 
teacher  was  wanted  for  Greensboro  Female  College;  her  ser- 
vices were  sought,  and  safely  entrusting  the  details  of  its  manage- 
ment to  a  near  relative  residing  in  her  home,  she  accepted  the 
position.  In  literary  associations  she  found  a  most  congenial 
atmosphere,  and  an  aptitude  for  teaching  made  the  work  pleasant 
and  successful.  In  January,  1883,  her  first  deep  sorrow  came 
in  the  death  of  a  devoted  husband.  The  occupation  of  teaching, 
taken  up  at  first  without  thought  of  long  continuance,  now  be- 
came her  life  work.  Not,  however,  till  her  boys  had  grown  to 
manhood  and  had  gone  out  to  take  their  place  in  the  world's 
work  and  make  a  home  for  themselves  did  she  break  up  her  own 
home  nest. 

For  fifteen  consecutive  years  Mrs.  Robertson  was  a  member 
of  the  faculty  of  Greensboro  Female  College.  Having  resigned 
this  position  in  1893,  the  same  year  the  Department  of  History 
was  given  her  in  the  State  Normal  and  Industrial  College,  and 
for  seven  years  it  was  held  with  ability  and  success.  Her  con- 
nection with  the  Normal,  with  its  large  body  of  earnest  students 
from  every  county  in  the  State,  and  her  association  with  its 
wide-awake  faculty,  was  a  period  of  enlarged  usefulness  and 
influence,  and  of  much  mental  enrichment,  and  this  connection 
was  reluctantly  severed  only  at  the  urgent  call  of  Greensboro 
Female  College  to  a  still  larger  sphere  of  influence — a  call  to  be- 
come its  lady  principal.  To  this  responsible  office  she  brought 
the  ripened  experience  of  years,  an  intimate  knowledge  of  the 
nature  and  needs  of  college  girls,  and  her  own  high  ideals  of 
college  community  life.  With  large  executive  ability  she  also 
combined  that  infinite  patience  with  small  details  which  only  a 
woman  can  command.  The  touch  of  a  masterful  yet  tactful  hand 
was  at  once  felt  on  all  its  internal  aflfairs,  and  the  college  began 
to  throb  with  a  new  life.  When  two  years  later  a  new  president 
must  needs  be  found,  it  was  in  the  eternal  fitness  of  things  that 
she  should  be  elected,  thereby  becoming  the  first  woman 
college  president  in  the  Southern  States,  and  the  head  of  the 
second  oldest  chartered  Woman's  College  in  the  United  States. 


38o  NORTH  CAROLINA 

Not  so  much  by  the  will  of  man  as  by  the  natural  trend  of 
events,  by  the  sequence  of  cause  and  effect,  the  place  was  open 
to  her.  Because  she  was  every  inch  a  queen,  and  had  already 
been  so  crowned  by  thousands  of  loving  hearts,  this  throne 
of  power  was  rightfully  hers.  Believing  that  this  was  her 
Father's  will  concerning  her,  she  accepted  the  trust  committed 
with  full  reliance  upon  His  guidance  and  strength.  Had  she 
been  able  to  foresee  the  strange  vicissitudes  through  which  the 
college  was  so  soon  to  pass,  she  might  not  have  had  the  courage 
to  link  her  own  destiny  so  inseparably  with  it.  It  was  as  much 
their  loyal  allegiance  to  her  as  love  for  their  Alma  Mater  that 
stirred  the  hearts  of  the  alumnee  so  profoundly,  and  fired  them 
with  that  indomitable  faith  and  courage  that  first  rescued  the 
college  from  an  ignoble  death,  and  later,  when  consumed  by  fire, 
caused  it  to  rise  phoenixlike  from  its  ashes. 

The  conditions  which  Mrs.  Robertson  has  been  obliged  to  face 
during  the  three  years  of  her  administration  could  not  have  been 
more  difficult  and  testing,  but  through  them  all  she  has  come 
forth  triumphant.  The  college  rebuilt  on  an  enlarged  and  im- 
proved plan,  with  its  halls  overflowing  with  girls,  attests  most 
eloquently  with  what  success  she  has  wrought,  and  with  what 
confidence  parents  entrust  to  her  care  their  choicest  treasures. 
Surely  the  financial  limitations  which  alone  hinder  the  unfolding 
and  development  of  her  high  ideals  will  be  speedily  removed  by  a 
handsome  endowment. 

The  value  of  such  a  woman  to  the  church  and  to  the  State  is 
simply  incalculable.  The  "Mother  of  a  thousand  daughters," 
through  them  her  ennobling,  uplifting  influence  is  being  multi- 
plied a  thousand  fold,  and  will  extend  to  coming  generations. 
Truly,  "her  own  works  do  praise  her  in  the  gates."  Fame  she 
does  not  covet,  but  she  shall  be  well  content  if  from  the  heights 
of  her  own  splendid  attainments  she  may  continue  to  reach  down 
a  loving  hand  to  help  those  who  fain  would  climb  to  come  up 
higher. 

Mrs.  L.  W.  Crawford. 


WILLIAM   LAURENCE  SAUNDERS 

I  F  asked  to  name  the  greatest  man  North  CaroHna 
has  produced,  the  writer  of  this  sketch  would 
say  without  hesitation,  "Colonel  William  L. 
Saunders."  Few  men  in  our  State  have  ever 
been  so  thoroughly  and  so  widely  esteemed ;  no 
one  has  had  more  fully  the  confidence  of  the 
people,  or  enjoyed  to  a  fuller  extent  the  respect,  esteem,  and  ad- 
miration of  all  who  have  been  brought  into  intimate  relations 
with  him.  "Indeed,  the  opinion  is  widely  entertained  that  he  was 
one  of  the  most  remarkable  men  of  his  day.  He  was  a  strong 
man  in  thought,  a  strong  man  in  action,  and  he  wielded  an  in- 
fluence among  the  thinking  men  of  his  State  that  was  second  to 
none."  I  have  quoted  the  estimate  of  a  man  intimately  acquainted 
with  him  for  many  years. 

Colonel  Saunders  came  of  a  family  of  ancient  lineage,  and  was 
the  product  of  many  generations  of  right  living.  His  people  were 
among  the  earlier  settlers  in  Virginia,  and  had  moved  from  Glou- 
cester County  to  the  Albemarle  section  of  North  Carolina,  in 
search  of  better  bottom  land  and  broader  acres,  when  the  territory 
owned  by  Lord  Granville  was  opened  to  settlers. 

His  father,  the  Reverend  Joseph  Hubbard  Saunders,  matricu- 
lated at  the  University  of  North  Carolina  from  Chowan  County. 
He  was  graduated  A.B.  in  1821,  and  received  his  Master's  degree 
(A.M.)  in  1824.    From  1821  to  1825  Joseph  Hubbard  Saunders 


382  NORTH  CAROLINA 

was  a  tutor  in  the  University  of  North  CaroHna.  Mr.  Saunders 
left  the  instruction  of  youth  in  the  University  for  the  priest's  call- 
ing, and  became  a  clergyman  of  the  Protestant  Episcopal  Church. 
The  same  high  devotion  to  duty  that  had  marked  his  career  at 
Chapel  Hill  as  student  and  teacher  was  as  marked  a  characteristic 
of  the  preacher ;  and  he  lost  his  life  at  the  early  age  of  thirty-nine 
in  the  yellow  fever  scourge  of  1839  at  Pensacola,  Florida,  minister- 
ing to  the  needs  of  his  people. 

William  Laurence  Saunders,  historian  and  statesman,  was  born 
at  Raleigh,  North  Carolina,  July  30,  1835.  He  received  his  prep- 
aration for  college  at  the  old  Raleigh  Academy  and  in  large 
measure  from  the  instruction  of  his  mother.  He  entered  the 
University  of  North  Carolina  in  1850,  and  was  graduated  there- 
from with  honor  in  June,  1854.  He  returned  to  Chapel  Hill  the 
following  Autumn  and  studied  law  under  Judge  William  H. 
Battle,  obtaining  his  license  in  1856  and  receiving  the  degree  of 
LL.B.  in  1858. 

In  1857  he  settled  in  Salisbury  for  the  practice  of  his  profes- 
sion, and  had  already  established  himself  in  what  he  thought  was 
his  life-work  when  the  war  between  the  States  broke  out.  He  at 
once,  in  April,  1861,  volunteered  for  the  war  as  a  member  of  the 
Rowan  Rifle  Guards,  and  went  with  that  company  to  Fort  John- 
ston at  Smithville,  now  Southport.  In  June,  1861,  he  was  ap- 
pointed a  lieutenant  in  Reiley's  Battery,  and  went  with  that  bat- 
tery to  Virginia,  making  a  most  excellent  artillery  officer. 

He  continued  to  see  active  service  throughout  the  war.  In 
January,  1862,  he  became  a  captain  in  the  Forty-sixth  North 
Carolina  Regiment,  of  which  E.  D.  Hall  was  colonel,  and  served 
with  Cook's  Brigade,  Hoke's  Division,  A.  P.  Hill's  Corps.  He 
was  twice  wounded :  once  at  Fredericksburg  in  the  right  cheek ; 
and  again  in  the  Wilderness,  where  the  ball  entered  his  mouth 
and  passed  out  at  the  back  of  his  neck,  the  wound  believed  at 
the  time  to  be  fatal. 

He  soon  rallied  from  his  wounds,  however,  and  served  until  the 
end  of  the  war.  In  1862  he  received  his  commission  as  major; 
in  1863  he  became  lieutenant-colonel,  and  in   1864  full  colonel 


WILLIAM  LAURENCE  SAUNDERS  383 

and  commander  of  the  regiment.     The  historian  of  the  Forty- 
sixth  Regiment  says : 

"May  I,  1864,  found  the  regiment  with  comparatively  full  ranks,  and, 
by  the  restored  health  of  the  sick  and  wounded,  numbering  over  500  strong. 
The  efficient  Colonel,  W.  L.  Saunders,  who  succeeded  Colonel  Hall, 
having  lent  his  best  energies  during  the  winter  to  bring  it  up  to  a  high 
state  of  discipline,  it  marched  away  from  its  comfortable  quarters  on  the 
4th  of  May  in  better  condition  than  ever  to  meet  the  trials  and  struggles 
of  its  last  and  most  terrible  campaign.  On  the  Sth  of  May,  in  the  dense 
undergrowth  of  the  Wilderness,  the  Union  Army  was  encountered — the 
Forty-sixth  being  in  line  immediately  on  the  plank  road.  The  record  of 
that  day  of  butchery  has  often  been  written.  A  butchery  pure  and  simple 
it  was,  unrelieved  by  any  of  the  arts  of  war  in  which  the  exercise  of  mili- 
tary skill  and  tact  robs  the  hour  of  some  of  its  horrors.  It  was  a  mere 
slugging  match  in  a  dense  thicket  of  small  growth,  where  men  but  a  few 
yards  apart  fired  through  the  brushwood  for  hours,  ceasing  only  when  ex- 
haustion and  night  commanded  rest.  All  during  that  terrible  afternoon 
the  Forty-sixth  held  its  own,  now  gaining,  now  losing — resting  at  night 
on  the  ground  over  which  it  had  fought,  surrounded  by  the  dead  and 
wounded  of  both  sides.  Early  on  the  morning  of  the  6th  the  battle  was 
renewed  with  increased  vigor  by  the  enemy,  who  had  received  reinforce- 
ments during  the  night,  and  it  was  not  long  before  the  heavier  weight  of 
the  Union  attack  began  to  slowly  press  back  the  decimated  Confederate 
line.  Matters  were  assuming  a  serious  aspect  when  Longstreet's  corps, 
fresh  from  the  West,  with  Lee  at  its  head,  trotted  through  the  weakened 
line  and  forming  under  fire,  soon  had  the  enemy  checked,  driving  him 
back  to  his  original  position.  The  writer  had  the  pleasure  of  witnessing 
this  glorious  scene — the  most  soul-inspiring  sight  imagination  can  con- 
ceive, and  one  never  to  be  forgotten." 

It  was  in  that  fierce  and  protracted  struggle  that  Colonel  Saun- 
ders was  so  severely  wounded.  For  some  time  he  was  separated 
from  his  command,  but  soon  rejoined  it.  The  Forty-sixth  from 
that  day  was  constantly  engaged,  leaving  a  trail  of  blood  along 
its  route  until  on  the  eighteenth  of  June  it  crossed  the  James  and 
occupied  a  position  in  the  intrenchments  near  Petersburg.  On 
the  twenty-seventh  of  February  Lieutenant-Colonel  McAllister, 
with  a  part  of  the  regiment,  was  detached  for  service  in  North 
Carolina,  but  Colonel  Saunders,  with  the  larger  part  of  the  regi- 
ment, remained  with  General  Lee  and  shared  in  all  the  terrible 


384  NORTH  CAROLINA 

experiences  of  life  in  the  trenches  at  Petersburg  and  the  still  more 
trying  ordeal  of  the  retreat  to  Appomattox.  There  Colonel 
Saunders  \\as  parolled,  and  with  the  failure  of  the  Confederacy 
he  faced  the  new  duties  and  responsibilities  that  were  thrust  upon 
him  by  the  deplorable  condition  of  his  country. 

In  February,  1864,  he  married  Miss  Florida  Cotton,  a  daughter 
of  the  late  John  W.  Cotton  of  Edgecombe  County.  His  young 
and  beautiful  wife,  a  woman  of  many  graces  and  of  fine  intelli- 
gence, to  whom  he  was  passionately  devoted,  died  in  July,  1865 ; 
and  Colonel  Saunders  never  married  again.  Bereaved  and  deso- 
late, he  lived  for  some  time  in  Florida  in  hope  of  regaining  his 
health,  which  had  been  seriously  impaired  by  the  hardships  of 
his  army  life.  On  his  return  to  North  Carolina  he  settled  at 
Chapel  Hill,  within  the  shadow  of  the  university,  for  which  he 
ever  cherished  the  warmest  affection. 

During  the  exciting  period  of  Reconstruction  from  1867  to 
1870  Colonel  Saunders  was  deeply  interested  in  public  affairs. 
In  1870  he  contributed  to  the  Wilmington  Journal,  of  which 
Major  Engelhard,  his  brother-in-law,  was  editor,  an  article  on 
the  Holden-Kirk  war  that  attracted  wide  attention.  It  was  re- 
garded as  the  strongest  and  most  perfect  article  ever  published 
in  the  State,  and  although  unsigned,  it  established  for  him  an 
enviable  reputation. 

The  Conservatives  were  successful  at  the  election  held  in 
August,  1870,  and  obtained  control  of  both  Houses  of  the  As- 
sembly. On  the  organization  of  the  Senate  in  November  Colonel 
Saunders  was  elected  chief  clerk  of  that  body,  and  served  by  re- 
election four  years  in  that  capacity.  While  in  this  position  he 
was  engaged  as  associate  editor  of  the  Wilmington  Journal,  his 
connection  with  his  brother-in-law,  Major  Engelhard,  in  this 
work  being  to  their  mutual  advantage.  Both  were  fine  writers, 
both  ardently  attached  to  North  Carolina,  both  active  and  zealous 
and  wise.  Their  appearance  in  the  editorial  field  was  a  distinct 
gain  to  North  Carolina.  The  influence  of  the  Journal  had  greatly 
increased  under  the  direction  of  Major  Engelhard,  and  now  it 
became  still  more   important   in  matters   of  state.     Thrown  at 


WILLIAM  LAURENCE  SAUNDERS  385 

Wilmington  with  Mr.  George  Davis  and  other  leaders  of 
thought  in  that  centre  of  action,  Colonel  Saunders  became  greatly- 
esteemed  and  admired  by  them  and  won  their  hearty  sympathy 
and  entire  confidence  and  cooperation. 

Towards  the  close  of  the  Reconstruction  period,  when  Colonel 
Saunders  was  doing  so  much  to  rescue  the  State  from  the  ruin 
and  degradation  that  threatened  her,  he  was  sought  by  the  United 
States  authorities,  as  he  was  said  to  be  the  Emperor  of  the  In- 
visible Empire,  another  name  for  the  Ku  Klux  Klan.  He  left 
Raleigh  for  a  few  days,  going  on  a  fishing  trip  out  into  the  coun- 
try, in  order  to  mature  his  plans  and  arrange  his  private  matters 
before  he  should  be  arrested.  The  day  before  his  return  he  was 
found  by  an  intimate  and  trusted  friend,  who  told  him  that  a 
large  sum  of  money  was  being  quietly  raised  for  him,  to  enable 
him  to  slip  away  from  this  country  and  spend  the  rest  of  his  life 
in  England  or  in  Europe,  beyond  the  reach  of  the  authorities  in 
Washington. 

But  Colonel  Saunders  would  not  listen  to  the  entreaties  and 
kind  offers,  but  returned  at  once  to  Raleigh,  where  he  was  ar- 
rested by  the  United  States  authorities  and  carried  to  Wash- 
ington, to  be  examined  by  the  Ku  Klux  Committee  of  Congress, 
with  the  hope  and  expectation  on  the  part  of  those  who  caused 
his  arrest  of  extorting  from  him  a  confession  of  his  own  com- 
plicity in  the  acts  of  the  Ku  Klux,  or  of  at  least  procuring  evi- 
dence against  others. 

He  appeared  before  the  committee  and  was  asked  more  than 
a  hundred  questions,  which  he  simply  declined  to  answer.  A 
member  of  this  committee  says  : 

"He  was  badgered  and  bullied  and  threatened  with  imprisonment, 
.  but  with  perfect  self-possession  and  calm  politeness  he  con- 
tinued to  say,  'I  decline  to  answer.'  It  was  a  new  experience  for  the  com- 
mittee, because  the  terror  aroused  by  the  investigation  had  enabled  them 
to  get  much  information;  but  they  recognized  that  they  had  now  en- 
countered a  man,  who  knew  how  to  guard  his  rights  and  protect  his  honor ; 
and  after  some  delay  he  was  discharged  with  his  secrets  (if  he  had  any) 
locked  in  his  own  bosom,  and  carrying  with  him  the  respect  and  admiration 
of  all  who  witnessed  the  ordeal  through  which  he  had  passed." 


386  NORTH  CAROLINA 

The  political  forces  of  that  day  were  largely  under  the  direction 
of  the  young  colonels  and  captains  of  the  war  period,  and  with 
them  Colonel  Saunders  had  a  personal  acquaintance  and  an  army 
association  which  increased  his  influence.  His  strength  of 
character,  his  lofty  purposes,  his  resolution  and  unerring  wisdom, 
quickly  established  him  in  the  primacy  of  political  advisers.  But 
he  was  very  quiet.  It  is  to  be  doubted  if  he  ever  made  a  speech 
during  his  whole  career,  yet  his  views  prevailed.  While  Secretary 
of  the  Senate  and  editor  of  the  Journal — during  the  period  of 
1870-76  he  exerted  a  strong  influence  on  public  measures  and 
contributed  largely  towards  the  rehabiliment  of  the  State  after 
the  wild  orgies  of  the  vultures  of  Reconstruction  times. 

In  1876  Major  Engelhard  was  nominated  and  elected  Sec- 
retary of  State,  and  in  the  Fall  of  that  year  Colonel  Saunders 
removed  to  Raleigh,  where  in  association  with  Peter  M.  Hale 
he  established  the  Observer.  Mr.  Hale  was  also  a  graduate  of 
the  University,  a  distinguished  soldier,  an  able  writer,  and  a  suc- 
cessful editor.  For  ten  years  he  had  experience  as  a  publisher  in 
New  York,  as  a  member  of  the  firm  of  E.  J.  Hale  and  Son.  The 
Observer  under  the  management  of  Messrs.  Hale  and  Saunders 
was  from  the  first  the  best  paper  ever  published  in  North  Caro- 
lina and  commended  itself  to  the  people  in  all  sections  of  the 
State. 

As  a  writer  Colonel  Saunders  was  excellent.  He  thought 
clearly,  wrote  tersely,  and  expressed  himself  with  clearness  and 
vigor.  He  disdained  ornament  and  aimed  to  strike  sledge-hammer 
blows  in  the  vernacular.  In  the  use  of  words,  however,  he  was 
a  master,  and  Swift  himself  was  not  his  superior  either  in  style 
or  execution.  In  1879  Colonel  Saunders  retired  from  the 
Observer  upon  the  advice  of  his  physician,  and  in  that  same  year, 
on  the  death  of  Major  Engelhard,  then  Secretary  of  State,  he 
was  appointed  to  that  office  and  by  continuous  reelections  he 
held  it  until  his  death. 

When  appointed  Secretary  of  State  he  had  already  attained  a 
position  of  first  prominence  among  the  statesmen  of  North  Caro- 
lina.   He  had  urged  the  construction  of  the  Western  North  Caro- 


WILLIAM  LAURENCE  SAUNDERS  387 

lina  Railroad  and  the  development  of  the  resources  of  the  west; 
and  liberal  in  his  views  as  to  expenditures,  his  watchword  was 
progress.  It  was  largely  under  his  influence  that  the  new  insti- 
tutions in  connection  with  the  public  charities  that  are  so  honor- 
able to  the  State  were  begun  and  constructed. 

A  close  friend  of  Governor  Jarvis,  and  of  the  editor  of  the 
Observer^  which  under  its  new  management  remained  the  leading 
political  influence  in  the  State,  and  strongly  posted  in  every  de- 
tail of  administration,  he  now  became  in  some  measure  the 
director  of  events;  and  as  years  passed  the  regard  in  which  he 
was  held  continually  increased,  until  he  was  recognized  as  the 
mentor  of  his  party.  He  gave  to  each  successive  campaign  the 
impress  of  his  personality,  and  in  collaboration  with  his  active 
associates  he  largely  supplied  the  facts  and  arguments  that  were 
embodied  in  party  publications,  and  more  than  any  one  else  he 
dictated  party  policies.  Thus  from  1868  until  the  better  class  of 
whites  were  firmly  established  in  power.  Colonel  Saunders  and 
his  co-laborers  wei^e  in  the  performance  of  as  high  and  important 
duties  as  ever  engaged  the  best  endeavors  of  patriots;  and  not 
only  did  he  have  the  satisfaction  of  the  glorious  achievement, 
but  he  enjoyed  the  homage  of  good  and  true  men  who  venerated 
him  for  his  virtues  while  applauding  him  for  his  wisdom. 

From  the  reopening  of  the  University  of  North  Carolina  in 
1875  he  was  one  of  its  trustees  until  his  death.  One  closely 
associated  with  him  says: 

"In  the  discharge  of  his  duties  in  these  capacities,  although  for  the 
larger  part  of  the  time  a  confirmed  invalid  and  great  sufferer,  he  did  as 
much  to  'revive,  foster,  and  enlarge'  the  University,  according  to  the  testi- 
mony of  the  Faculty  themselves,  as  any  one  had  ever  done.  In  the  tribute 
they  paid  to  him  soon  after  his  death  they  used  this  language: 

"  'From  his  graduation  to  the  day  of  his  death  he  was  loyal  to  his 
Alma  Mater  and  gave  to  her  the  best  thoughts  of  his  big  brain  and 
the  ardent  affection  of  his  great  heart.  Watchful,  steadfast,  patient,  and 
wise,  he  never  lost  sight  of  her  interest,  never  wavered  in  her  support, 
and,  when  the  crisis  demanded  it,  marshalled  and  led  her  alumni  to  her 
defence.'  " 


388  NORTH  CAROLINA 

In  grateful  recognition  of  the  services  of  her  eminent  son  the 
University  of  North  Carolina  in  1889  conferred  upon  Colonel 
Saunders  the  degree  of  LL.D. 

Soon  after  entering  upon  the  duties  of  his  office  as  Secretary 
of  State  he  began  his  great  work  for  all  students  of  our  history, 
and  devoted  eleven  years  to  the  accomplishment  of  the  most 
important  wrork  of  his  life,  the  compilation  of  the  "Colonial 
Records  of  North  Carolina,"  a  work  of  the  greatest  historical 
value.  Concerning  this  work  it  has  been  truly  said  that  it  is  the 
greatest  reservoir  of  facts,  from  which  all  must  draw  who  would 
write  accurately  and  truthfully  the  history  of  the  first  century  of 
our  civilization. 

The  work  "was  done  by  a  true  and  loving  hand,  under  the 
inspiration  of  a  brave  and  loyal  heart,  without  the  least  expecta- 
tion or  hope  of  reward  of  any  kind,  and  solely  for  the  honor  of 
the  State  which  give  him  birth  and  the  people  to  whose  welfare 
he  devoted  all  the  years  of  his  life."  The  spirit  of  a  lofty  patriot- 
ism is  seen  in  his  closing  words,  his  last  public  utterance,  in 
which  he  invoked  God's  blessing  on  his  native  State : 

"And  now  the  self-imposed  task,  begun  some  eleven  years  ago,  is  fin- 
ished. All  that  I  care  to  say  is  that  I  have  done  the  best  I  could  that 
coming  generation  might  be  able  to  learn  vifhat  manner  of  men  their  an- 
cestors were,  and  this  I  have  done  without  reward  or  hope  of  reward 
other  than  the  hope  that  I  might  contribute  something  to  rescue  the  fair 
fame  and  good  name  of  North  Carolina  from  the  clutches  of  ignorance. 
Our  records  are  now  before  the  world,  and  any  man  who  chooses  may  see 
for  himself  the  character  of  the  people  who  made  them.  As  for  myself, 
when  I  search  these  North  Carolina  scriptures  and  read  the  story  of  her 
hundred  years'  struggle  with  the  Mother  Country  for  Constitutional  Gov- 
ernment, and  the  no  less  wonderful  story  of  her  hundred  years'  struggle 
with  the  savage  Indian  for  very  life,  both  culminating  in  her  first  great 
revolution;  when  I  remember  how  the  old  State  bared  her  bosom  to  the 
mighty  storm,  how  she  sent  her  sons  to  the  field  until  both  the  cradle 
and  the  grave  were  robbed  of  their  just  rights ;  how  devotedly  those  sons 
stood  before  shot  and  shell  and  deadly  bullet,  so  that  their  bones  whitened 
every  battlefield ;  when  I  remember  how  heroically  she  endured  every 
privation,  until  starvation  was  at  her  very  doors  and  until  raiment  was 
as  scarce  as  food,  and  with  what  fortitude  she  met  defeat  when  after 
Appomattox  all  seemed  lost  save  honor ;  especially  when  I  remember  how. 


WILLIAM  LAURENCE  SAUNDERS  389 

in  the  darkest  of  all  hours,  rallying  once  more  to  the  struggle  for  Con- 
stitutional Government,  she  enlisted  for  the  war  of  Reconstruction,  fought 
it  out  to  the  end,  finally  wresting  glorious  victory  from  the  very  jaws 
of  disastrous  defeat,  I  bow  my  head  in  gratitude  and  say  as  our  great 
Confederate  commander,  the  immortal  Lee,  said  when,  watching  the  bril- 
liant fight  at  a  critical  time  in  one  of  his  great  battles,  he  exclaimed  in 
the  fullness  of  his  heart,  'God  bless  old  North  Carolina !'  " 

Of  the  Prefatory  Notes  which  Colonel  Saunders  prepared  for 
each  of  his  several  volumes  it  is  to  be  remarked  that  they  are 
of  surpassing  excellence,  whether  regarded  from  a  literary 
standpoint  or  that  of  the  philosophical  historian.  They  consti- 
tute an  enduring  monument  to  his  fame  which  will  survive  for 
centuries ;  and  they  will  hand  down  to  posterity  the  name  of  the 
author  as  a  man  of  great  brain,  fine  powers,  and  lofty  patriotism. 

Though  a  martyr  to  rheumatism,  which  rendered  him  unable  to 
walk  and  nearly  helpless,  and  suffering  still  from  the  wounds  re- 
ceived in  the  war,  he  would  often  go  on  with  his  labors  in  great 
bodily  pain,  never  asking  or  receiving  any  compensation  for  his 
services,  the  only  reward  he  received  being  a  vote  of  thanks  from 
the  General  Assembly  of  North  Carolina. 

The  work  being  finished  and  the  last  volume  published,  the 
stimulant  that  had  sustained  him  being  withdrawn,  William 
Laurence  Saunders  entered  into  rest  April  2,  1891. 

Collier  Cobb. 


JOHN    SIMPSON 

HOUGH  the  services  rendered  to  the  cause  of 
liberty  in  the  war  of  the  Revolution  by  Briga- 
dier-General John  Simpson  make  his  history 
one  of  State-wide  interest,  his  name  is  more 
particularly  identified  with  the  county  of  Pitt, 
where  he  resided.  Indeed,  he  was  a  man  of 
some  note  before  Pitt  County  was  severed  from  Beaufort  in 
1760. 

John  Simpson  was  born  in  Boston,  Massachusetts,  on  the  8th 
of  March,  1728.  He  was  a  lineal  descendant  of  Roger  Clap,  for 
many  years  the  captain  of  Castle  William  in  New  England  dur- 
ing the  early  colonial  period.  Clap's  daughter,  Elizabeth,  mar- 
ried Joseph  Holmes  arfd  had  a  daughter,  Aurelia  Holmes,  who 
married  John  Simpson.  To  the  latter  was  born  another  John 
Simpson,  who  married  Mary  Randall  and  was  father  of  our  pres- 
ent subject,  John  Simpson,  who  came  to  North  Carolina. 

John  Simpson  came  to  Beaufort  County,  North  Carolina,  with 
quite  a  colony  of  New  Englanders  somewhat  later  than  the  middle 
of  the  eighteenth  century.  He  was  commissioned  lieutenant  in 
Captain  John  Hardee's  Company  in  the  regiment  of  Colonel 
Robert  Palmer  on  the  9th  of  July,  1757,  by  Governor  Dobbs. 
Shortly  thereafter,  in  1760  he  was  elected  one  of  Beaufort's  rep- 
resentatives in  the  Lower  House  of  the  Colonial  Assembly;  and 
while  a  member  of  that  body  introduced  a  bill   (November  19, 


JOHN  SIMPSON  391 


1760)  which  afterwards  became  Chapter  3  of  the  Laws  of  1760 
(passed  at  the  fourth  session  in  that  year),  estabhshing  the 
County  of  Pitt.  The  inhabitants  of  that  section  had  petitioned 
the  Assembly  to  set  up  the  new  county  on  account  of  the  incon- 
venience caused  by  the  great  extent  of  Beaufort,  and  the  fact  that 
the  latter  county  was  divided  by  a  "boistrous  and  tempestuous 
river'' — to  quote  the  sonorous  language  of  their  memorial  in 
designating  the  placid  waters  of  the  Tar.  Under  the  Church  of 
England,  then  established  by  law  in  North  Carolina,  Pitt  County 
formed  an  ecclesiastical  territory  known  as  St.  Michael's  Parish. 
John  Simpson,  together  with  John  Hardee,  William  Spier, 
George  May  and  Isaac  Buck,  were  appointed  commissioners, 
whose  duty  it  was  to  make  all  necessary  arrangements  for  the 
government  of  the  new  county — such  as  the  erection  of  a  court 
house,  a  jail,  a  pillory,  stocks,  etc.  It  was  provided  that  these 
buildings  and  penal  appliances  should  be  placed  on  the  land  of 
John  Hardee  on  the  south  side  of  the  Tar  River  near  a  house 
of  worship  called  Hardee's  Chapel.  This  was  a  few  miles  south- 
east of  where  the  town  of  Greenville  (county-seat  of  Pitt)  now 
stands. 

Colonel  Simpson  was  an  officer  of  one  of  the  earliest  Masonic 
lodges  ever  established  in  North  Carolina.  It  was  called  "The 
First  Lodge  in  Pitt  County,"  and,  in  1766  or  shortly  prior  thereto, 
was  chartered  by  the  Right  Worshipful  Jeremy  Gridley,  Grand 
Master  of  Massachusetts.  The  first  officers  of  the  Pitt  County 
Lodge  were:  Thomas  Cooper,  worshipful  master;  Peter  Blin, 
senior  warden;  John  Simpson,  junior  warden;  James  Hall,  secre- 
tary; Richard  Evans,  treasurer,  and  Thomas  Hardy  and  James 
Hill,  stewards.  At  a  later  date,  on  October  23,  1767,  Cooper 
became  Deputy  Grand  Master  of  the  Province  of  North  Carolina, 
by  virtue  of  a  commission  sent  him  from  Boston  by  the  Right 
Worshipful  Henry  Price,  Grand  Master,  pro  tempore. 

On  November  20,  1766,  Simpson  was  appointed  register  of 
Pitt  County  by  Governor  Tryon,  and  this  appointment  was  re- 
newed by  Governor  Josiah  Martin  on  November  13,  1771. 

When  the  troubles  with  the  Regulators  occurred  during  the 


392  NORTH  CAROLINA 

administration  of  Governor  Tr)'on,  Colonel  Simpson  was  a  strong 
supporter  of  the  government,  and  held  his  regiment  in  readiness 
to  aid  in  opposing  the  insurgents  vi^hen  New-Bern  was  threatened 
by  them  during  the  imprisonment  of  Hermon  Husband.  Simp- 
son, however,  was  not  at  the  Battle  of  Alamance  on  May  i6, 
1 77 1,  though  one  or  more  companies  from  his  regiment  fought 
in  that  action — notably  that  commanded  by  Captain  Robert 
Salter. 

On  March  13,  1771,  Colonel  Simpson  was  appointed  high 
sheriff  of  the  county  of  Pitt  by  Governor  Tryon.  From  the  early 
dawn  of  the  Revolution  to  its  successful  close,  he  was  a  patriot 
faithful  to  every  trust.  Before  the  war  he  had  been  a  member 
of  the  Colonial  Assembly;  and,  when  the  troubles  with  Great 
Britain  commenced  and  committees  of  safety  were  organized 
throughout  North  Carolina  in  1774,  he  was  an  active  member 
of  the  committee  in  Pitt.  Matters  going  from  bad  to  worse,  it 
was  determined  by  the  patriots  of  North  Carolina  that  a  conven- 
tion or  Congress  independent  of  the  existing  laws  should  be  held 
in  New-Bern  on  the  2Sth  of  August,  1774.  Being  advised  of 
this  movement,  the  committee  of  safety  of  Pitt  County  met  at 
Martinborough  on  the  isth  of  August  and  elected  John  Simpson 
and  Edward  Salter  to  represent  their  county  in  the  convention 
at  New-Bern.  For  the  guidance  of  these  gentlemen  the  following 
resolution  of  instructions  was  passed : 

"Resolved,  That  John  Simpson  and  Edward  Salter,  Esqs.,  do  attend 
at  the  town  of  New-Bern  on  the  25th  inst.  in  general  convention  of  this 
province,  and  there  to  exert  their  utmost  abilities  preventing  the  grow- 
ing system  of  ministerial  despotism  which  now  threatens  the  destruction 
of  American  liberties ; 

"And  that  you,  our  deputies,  may  be  acquainted  with  the  sentiments 
of  the  people  of  this  country,  it  is  their  opinion  that  you  proceed  to 
choose  proper  persons  to  represent  this  province  in  a  General  Congress 
of  America,  to  meet  at  such  time  and  place  as  may  be  hereafter  agreed 
on;  that  these  delegates  be  instructed  to  a  declaration  of  American  rights, 
setting  forth  that  British  America  and  all  its  inhabitants  shall  be  and  re- 
main in  due  subjection  to  the  Crown  of  England  and  to  the  illustrious 
family  of  the  throne,  submitting  by  their  own  voluntary  act  and  enjoy- 


JOHN  SIMPSON  393 


ing  all  their  free  chartered  rights  and  liberties  as  British  free  subjects; 
that  it  is  the  first  law  of  legislation  and  of  the  British  Constitution  that 
no  man  be  taxed  but  by  his  own  consent,  expressed  by  himself  or  by  his 
legal  representatives." 

The  above  delegates  were  in  attendance  at  New-Bern  at  the 
appointed  time.  When  a  similar  Congress  met  at  New-Bern 
on  April  3,  1775,  Colonel  Simpson,  with  additional  colleagues, 
was  again  present.  Between  the  sessions  of  these  Congresses, 
on  November  3,  1774,  the  committee  of  safety  of  Pitt  County 
had  met  and  taken  action,  looking  toward  sending  supplies  to 
the  town  of  Boston,  whose  port  was  then  blocked  by  the  British 
Government.  Colonel  Simpson  was  appointed  a  member  of  a 
sub-committee  of  twenty-four  to  assist  the  vestry  of  St.  Michael's 
Parish  in  Pitt  to  raise  these  supplies.  A  sub-committee  of  three 
(on  which  Colonel  Simpson  also  served)  was  likewise  appointed 
to  acquaint  the  general  committee  of  the  entire  province  that  the 
county  committee  of  Pitt  had  been  duly  organized  and  were  ready 
to  communicate  and  advise  with  them.  A  general  election  for  a 
new  committee  took  place  on  December  9,  1774,  and  Colonel 
Simpson  became  a  member  of  this  also.  He  was  elected  chair- 
man (succeeding  John  Hardee)  on  the  17th  of  December,  1774. 
The  committee  again  met  on  the  nth  of  February,  1775,  and 
directed  Colonel  Simpson  to  secure  a  vessel  on  which  to  send  the 
supplies  for  the  relief  of  Boston;  another  order  was  made,  pro- 
viding for  an  election  on  the  loth  of  March  following,  to  choose 
delegates  for  another  Provincial  Congress  to  sit  at  Hillsboro. 
This  election  resulted  in  the  choice  (among  others)  of  Colonel 
Simpson.  On  the  same  day  that  the  election  was  held  three  citi- 
zens were  cited  to  appear  and  answer  the  charge  of  having  ob- 
structed collections  for  the  relief  of  Boston. 

Early  in  July,  1775,  an  insurrection  of  slaves  occurred  in  Pitt 
and  adjoining  counties,  but  was  nipped  in  the  bud  before  an  up- 
rising took  place.  This  "deep  laid  horrid  tragick  plan,"  as  Simp- 
son called  it,  was  inspired  by  an  English  sea-captain,  one 
Johnson,  and  some  hundreds  of  slaves  were  more  or  less  con- 
cerned in  it.    Upwards  of  one  hundred  patrollers  were  appointed 


394  NORTH  CAROLINA 

by  the  committee  of  safety;  and  it  was  resolved  that  any  slave 
who  should  resist  arrest  and  be  killed  by  them  should  be  paid 
for  by  the  county.  Parties  of  light-horse  were  also  ordered  out 
to  aid  the  patrollers;  and  on  the  day  they  began  to  make  arrests, 
upwards  of  forty  insurgents  were  landed  in  jail.  Though  none 
of  these  slaves  suffered  capitally,  some  received  as  many  as  eighty 
lashes,  and  a  few  of  the  most  dangerous  had  their  ears  cropped. 
In  reporting  the  affair  to  Colonel  Richard  Cogdell,  chairman  of 
the  committee  of  safety  of  Craven  County,  Colonel  Simpson 
wrote,  on  July  15,  1775,  as  follows  : 

"From  whichever  part  of  the  country  they  come,  they  all  confess  nearly 
the  same  thing,  viz. :  that  they  were  one  and  all,  on  the  night  of  the  8th 
inst.,  to  fall  on  and  destroy  the  family  where  they  lived,  then  to  proceed 
from  house  to  house  (burning  as  they  went)  until  they  arrived  in  the 
back  country,  where  they  were  to  be. received  with  open  arms  by  a  num- 
ber of  persons  there  appointed  and  armed  by  the  Government  for  their 
protection ;  and,  as  a  further  reward,  they  were  to  be  settled  in  a  free 
government  of  their  own.  Captain  Johnson,  it  is  said,  was  heard  to  say 
that  he  would  return  in  the  fall  and  take  choice  of  the  plantations  upon 
this  river.  But  as  it  hath  pleased  God  to  discover  the  plot,  it  is  of  the 
Lord's  mercies  that  we  are  not  consumed.  Let  us  therefore  beseech  Him 
to  continue  our  very  present  help  in  every  time  of  need." 

The  Whigs  of  North  Carolina  openly  charged  Josiah  Martin, 
the  royal  Governor,  with  instigating  the  intended  insurrection 
mentioned  above.  Though  Martin  did  not  admit  all  that  was 
charged  against  him  in  this  connection,  he  acknowledged  that 
he  favored  arming  slaves  should  it  be  found  necessary  in  sup- 
pressing the  rebellion.  Indeed,  this  was  one  of  the  British  policies 
for  forcing  the  colonies  back  to  their  allegiance.  At  Williams- 
burg, in  Virginia,  Lord  Dunmore  had  fiercely  declared :  "If  any 
insult  is  offered  to  me,  or  those  who  have  obeyed  my  orders,  I 
will  declare  freedom  to  the  slaves  and  lay  the  town  in  ashes." 
But  the  Colonists  were  now  gaining  the  upper  hand,  and  conse- 
quently the  bark  of  a  royal  Governor  was  worse  than  his  bite. 

When  the  Provincial  Congress  of  North  Carolina  met  at  Hills- 
boro  on  August  20,   1775,   Colonel   Simpson  was   among  those 


JOHN  SIMPSON  395 


present ;  and,  on  September  9th  following,  when  the  North  Caro- 
lina militia  was  organized,  he  was  placed  in  his  old  command 
as  colonel  of  the  Pitt  regiment.  The  other  officers  were  Robert 
Salter,  lieutenant-colonel;  George  Evans,  first  major,  and  James 
Armstrong,  second  major.  These  officers  were  re-elected  by  the 
Provincial  Congress  at  Halifax  on  April  22,  1776. 

On  December  9,  1775,  Colonel  Simpson  was  elected  a  member 
of  the  committee  of  safety  for  the  district  of  New-Bern  (of  which 
Pitt  County  formed  a  part)  ;  and,  about  a  fortnight  later,  on 
December  23rd,  was  commissioned  a  Justice  of  the  Court  of 
Pleas  and  Quarter  Sessions  of  the  county  of  Pitt.  On  August 
14,  1778,  he  became  a  member  of  the  Governor's  Council  and  was 
a  faithful  attendant  at  its  meetings.  In  1780,  he  had  risen  to  the 
rank  of  brigadier-general;  and,  in  1782,  was  a  member  of  the 
North  Carolina  House  of  Commons. 

General  Simpson's  home  in  Pitt  County  was  called  Chatham — 
taking  its  name  from  the  title  of  the  "Great  Commoner"  for  whom 
Pitt  County  was  called — William  Pitt,  Earl  of  Chatham. 

After  the  Revolution  an  academy  was  established  in  Pitt 
County  by  Chapter  67  of  the  Private  Laws  of  1786.  Of  this 
school.  General  Simpson  was  one  of  the  trustees,  his  associates 
being  Richard  Caswell,  Hugh  Williamson,  William  Blount,  James 
Armstrong,  James  Gorham,  John  Hawks,  John  Williams,  Robert 
Williams,  Arthur  Forbes,  Benjamin  May,  John  May  and  Reading 
Blount.  The  same  act  which  incorporated  this  academy  changed 
the  name  of  Martinborough  to  Greenesville,  as  a  compliment  to 
General  Nathanael  Greene;  and  since  that  time  Greenesville  has 
become  Greenville.  The  old  colonial  town  of  Martinborough 
was  several  miles  from  the  town  of  that  name  on  whose  site 
Greenville  now  stands. 

Mrs.  Elizabeth  Simpson,  the  wife  of  General  Simpson,  died 
March  25,  1805,  aged  67.  She  was  a  daughter  of  Colonel  John 
Hardee  or  Hardy — we  find  both  spellings  in  the  records — an  active 
Revolutionary  patriot  of  Pitt  County.  By  this  marriage.  General 
Simpson  left  quite  a  number  of  children.  Only  four,  however, 
were  married.    These  were :    General  Samuel  Simpson  of  Craven 


396 


NORTH  CAROLINA 


County,  who  was  four  times  married  and  left  an  only  daughter, 
wife  of  the  Reverend  WilHam  P.  Biddle ;  Susannah  Simpson, 
who  married  Lawrence  O'Bryan;  Ann  Simpson,  who  married 
John  Eason,  and  Sarah  Simpson,  who  married  Dr.  Joseph 
Brickell.  In  addition  to  the  four  just  named  (all  of  whom  left 
descendants)  General  Simpson  had  two  sons  and  two  daughters, 
viz. :  John  Hardee,  Joseph,  Mary  Randall  and  Alice. 

The  death  of  General  John  Simpson  occurred  on  the  1st  of 
March,  1788,  and  his  remains  were  interred  in  Pitt  County,  on 
the  southern  side  of  Tar  River  at  the  old  Hardee  place,  a  little 
over  five  miles  south  of  Greenville  on  the  Greenville  and  Wash- 
ington road. 

Marshall  De  Lancey  Haywood. 


RICHARD    DOBBS   SPAIGHT,    SR. 


LLUSTRATIVE  of  the  slow  growth  of  popula- 
tion and  the  powerful  influence  exerted  by  im- 
migrants coming  into  the  colony  of  North 
Carolina  is  the  fact  that  130  years  passed  from 
what  is  counted  as  the  beginning  of  settlement 
till  a  native  became  governor  of  the  State. 
During  the  colonial  period  it  was  hardly  expected  that  natives 
should  attain  to  this  dignity,  that  office  being  reserved  for  crown 
favorites.  But  with  the  coming  of  independence  there  was  no 
immediate  change,  for  of  the  five  men  who  filled  the  governor's 
office  from  1776- 1793,  Caswell,  Nash,  Martin,  Burke  and  Johns- 
ton, neither  was  born  in  the  State;  nor  was  either  of  the  signers 
of  the  Declaration  of  Independence ;  while  of  the  members  of  the 
Old  Congress  nearly  one-half  were  not  natives,  and  it  is  not  till 
we  come  to  the  signing  of  the  Federal  Conctitution  that  we  find 
natives  in  a  decided  preponderance. 

Richard  Dobbs  Spaight,  Sr.,  the  first  native  of  North  Carolina 
to  become  governor  of  the  State,  was  born  in  New-Bern,  N.  C, 
March  25,  1758.  His  father  was  Richard  Spaight,  an  Irishman 
of  an  ancient  and  honorable  family  who  had  come  to  North  Caro- 
lina a  few  years  before  and  had  already  attained  positions  of  trust 
and  influence.  He  had  been  paymaster  to  the  North  Carolina 
troops  in  Braddock's  expedition ;  was  private  secretary  to  Gov- 
ernor Dobbs ;  clerk  of  the  Provincial  Council,  and  from  February 


398  NORTH  CAROLINA 

4,  1757,  a  member  of  the  same;  was  treasurer,  secretary  and 
clerk  of  the  crown,  and  in  all  of  these  positions  a  staunch  sup- 
porter of  Government  schemes,  as  typified  in  the  person  of  Gov- 
ernor Dobbs.  He  married  Margaret  Dobbs,  sister  of  the  gov- 
ernor. The  Dobbs  family  was  established  in  Ireland  as  early 
as  1596  by  John  Dobbs;  perhaps  its  most  distinguished  repre- 
sentative was  Arthur  Dobbs  (1689-1765),  high  sheriff  of  Antrim, 
member  of  Parliament  for  Carrickfergus,  engineer  and  surveyor- 
general  of  Ireland,  promoter  of  efforts  to  discover  the  Northwest 
Passage,  author,  and  governor  of  North  Carolina.  In  the  last 
position  Dobbs  was  not  on  a  bed  of  roses ;  the  people  were  demo- 
cratic in  the  extreme  and  freest  of  the  free;  much  of  his  time 
was  spent  in  petty  squabbles  with  the  lower  house  of  the  Assembly 
over  patronage,  in  which  the  governor  usually  came  out  second 
best. 

Governor  Dobbs  died  in  1765,  when  his  nephew,  Richard  Dobbs 
Spaight,  was  seven  years  old ;  the  parents  of  the  latter  died  soon 
after;  a  guardian  was  appointed  for  the  child,  and  at  the  age  of 
nine  he  was  sent  abroad  and  finished  his  education  at  the  Uni- 
versity of  Glasgow.  There  was  evidently  in  him  a  streak  of  Re- 
publican blood,  for  despite  his  anti-democratic  family  history 
and  training  he  returned  to  America  in  1778  and  became  an  aide- 
de-camp  to  General  Caswell,  who  commanded  the  North  Caro- 
lina militia  and  as  such  was  present  at  the  disastrous  defeat  at 
Camden.  This  was  the  end  of  his  military  career  except  some 
home  service  a  few  years  later  as  lieutenant-colonel  of  a  regiment 
of  artillery,  which  position  he  resigned  in  1789  (N.  C.  S.  R. 
XXI.  529). 

After  the  Camden  campaign  Spaight  returned  to  his  home  and 
in  1781,  1782,  1783  and  1792  represented  New-Bern  town  in 
the  House  of  Commons.  In  1785,  1786,  1787  and  1801  he  rep- 
resented Craven  County.  When  he  entered  upon  public  legis- 
lative life  Spaight  was  only  twenty-three  years  of  age.  He  seems 
to  have  become  an  active  member,  although  not  appearing  on  the 
floor  with  undue  frequency.  He  served  on  the  committees  on 
privileges   and   elections,   finance,   depreciation,   militia,   treasury 


RICHARD  DOBBS  SPAIGHT,  SR.  399 

and  money,  on  representation  in  the  Continental  Congress  and  on 
special  committees ;  but  that  the  will  of  the  majority  did  not  sit 
lightly  upon  him  when  they  seemed  in  error  is  proved  by  various 
protests  against  the  action  of  the  Assembly  signed  by  him.  He 
was  Speaker  of  the  House  of  Commons  during  the  session  of 
1785 ;  and  in  1786,  when  the  important  questions  of  army  frauds 
and  malpractice  in  office  by  the  judges  were  being  examined  by 
the  two  houses  in  joint  session,  they  chose  Spaight  as  chairman 
of  the  whole — a  remarkable  tribute  to  the  ability  as  a  presiding 
officer  of  so  young  a  man. 

In  1782  Spaight  was  nominated  for  the  Continental  Congress, 
but  failed  of  election;  on  April  25,  1783,  he  was  appointed  by 
Governor  Martin  a  delegate  in  place  of  William  Blount  resigned 
and  was  elected  in  1784.  While  in  that  body  he  seems  to  have 
been  faithful  in  the  discharge  of  his  duties,  and  corresponded 
regularly  with  the  executives  of  North  Carolina.  He  served  on 
the  important  committee  of  finance,  on  that  to  devise  a  plan  for 
the  temporary  government  of  the  western  territory;*  and  on 
December  29,  1783,  was  elected  one  of  the  committee  of  States, 
which  body  possessed  and  wielded  all  the  power  of  government. 
He  was  reelected  for  the  year  beginning  in  November,  1785 
(N.  C.  S.R.  XVII.  503). 

Spaight  was  chosen  a  delegate  to  the  Philadelphia  Conven- 
tion of  1787;  was  in  Philadelphia  as  early  as  May  13,  and  re- 
mained through  the  whole  proceedings.  He  is  said  by  Wheeler 
to  have  been  responsible  for  that  part  of  the  Constitution  which 
requires  that  senators  be  elected  by  the  States,  f  He  was  one  of 
the  signers  of  the  Constitution  on  behalf  of  North  Carolina,  the 

♦When  the  plan  adopted  by  the  Committee  was  presented  to  the  Con- 
gress, it  contained  a  provision  that  after  the  year  1800  slavery  should 
not  be  permitted  in  any  of  the  States  that  might  be  formed  out  of  that 
territory.  When  the  subject  was  under  consideration  in  the  Congress, 
Mr.  Spaight  moved  to  strike  out  that  provision,  and  his  motion  carried. 

tThe  North  Carolina  delegates  in  the  Convention,  although  acting 
generally  with  the  great  States,  North  Carolina  being  at  that  time  one 
of  the  largest  States  of  the  Confederation,  yet  did  not  cooperate  with 
the  delegates  from  Virginia.     Virginia  had  offered  a  plan  of  Union  that 


400  NORTH  CAROLINA 

other  signers  being  William  Blount  and  Hugh  Williamson.  He 
then  returned  to  North  Carolina  and  in  July,  1788,  was  a  member 
of  the  Hillsboro  Convention  from  Craven  County,  where  his 
handiwork  was  to  be  put  through  a  fiery  test  by  the  radical  democ- 
racy of  North  Carolina.  Although  sympathizing  largely  with 
that  democracy,  Spaight  supported  the  Constitution  in  the  con- 
vention, but  it  failed  of  adoption.  Its  ratification  was  simply 
delayed  till  certain  amendments  were  adopted. 

In  November,  1787,  Spaight  was  nominated  for  governor  of 

was  national  in  its  character;  by  it  Senators  were  to  be  elected  by  the 
House  of  Representatives,  and  they  were  likewise  to  be  apportioned  to 
the  States  on  the  basis  of  population.  The  Convention,  however,  re- 
jected this  provision  and  resolved  that  the  Senators  ought  to  be  chosen 
by  the  State  Legislatures.  Then  came  up  the  subject  of  representation 
in  the  Senate.  The  smaller  States  insisted  on  equality.  At  first  North 
Carolina  voted  with  the  larger  States  against  the  old  rule  of  State  equal- 
ity and  in  favor  of  some  equitable  ratio  of  representation  in  the  Senate, 
as  well  as  in  the  House. 

On  this  question  a  deadlock  occurred.  The  smaller  States  were  im- 
movable. The  Convention  was  about  to  end  in  failure.  Unwilling  to 
break  up  without  result,  the  Convention,  however,  referred  the  matters 
at  issue  to  a  grand  Committee  composed  of  one  member  from  each 
State.  Mr.  Davie  represented  North  Carolina  on  that  Committee.  The 
smaller  States  had  claimed  equal  representation  in  both  Houses ;  the 
larger  States  now  yielded  their  claim  to  representation  in  the  Senate  in 
proportion  to  population  in  consideration  of  a  proviso  that  the  Senate 
should  have  no  power  to  alter  or  amend  a  money  bill.  Such  was  the 
compromise  agreed  on  by  the  Committee.  It  was  very  distasteful  to 
the  larger  States.  North  Carolina,  however,  abandoned  her  associa- 
tion with  the  larger  States  and  voted  with  the  smaller  ones  and  carried 
the  day.  Thus  it  was  that  North  Carolina,  by  throwing  her  voice  in 
favor  of  an  equal  representation  in  the  Senate,  broke  the  deadlock  and 
rendered  it  possible  for  the  Constitution  to  be  framed.  Her  action  re- 
stored in  a  vital  point  the  Federal  system  based  on  State  equality.  It 
preserved  the  sovereign  character  of  the  States  and  perpetuated  the 
dogma  of  State's  rights,  and  set  the  key-stone  in  the  arch  which  has 
supported  the  liberties  of  this  country  and  prevented  consolidation. 

On  the  floor  of  the  Convention  Mr.  Williamson  was  the  most  active 
of  the  North  Carolina  delegation,  but  Mr.  Spaight  exerted  a  strong 
influence  and  doubtless  contributed  particularly  to  this  important  action 
which  resulted  in  the  framing  of  the  Federal  Constitution. 


RICHARD  DOBBS  SPAIGHT,  SR.  401 

the  State,  but  the  Federalist  Party  was  still  in  power,  and  while 
he  had  acted  with  them  in  the  matter  of  the  Constitution  he  was 
still  too  much  of  a  Republican  to  suit  the  conservatives,  and 
Samuel  Johnston  was  chosen.  On  the  coming  of  the  State  into 
the  new  union  in  1789  he  was  also  nominated  for  senator,  but 
failed  again  for  the  same  reasons  as  in  1787. 

These  continued  labors  had  undermined  the  health  of  Spaight 
which  was  never  robust,  and  he  retired  for  the  time  from  public 
life.  The  next  four  years  were  spent  largely  in  efforts  to  bring 
back  life  and  strength  by  travel  in  the  West  Indies  and  other 
mild  climates,  but  while  he  was  in  a  measure  successful  he  never 
again  enjoyed  perfect  health. 

He  again  represented  New-Bern  in  the  House  of  Commons 
in  1792,  and  was  by  that  Assembly  chosen  governor.  He  suc- 
ceeded Alexander  Martin  and  was  in  turn  succeeded  in  1795  by 
Samuel  Ashe.  In  1793,  while  governor,  he  was  elected  and 
served  as  elector  for  president  and  vice-president.  It  was  during 
his  administration  that  the  Assembly  first  met  in  Raleigh,  and 
that  place  became  the  fixed  capital  of  the  State.  The  Indians  in 
Buncombe  County  also  gave  trouble,  and  he  was  called  to  face 
the  question  of  neutrality  in  the  threatened  war  between  France 
and  England.  He  issued  a  proclamation  of  neutrality  on  Sep- 
tember 25,  1793,  and  caused  certain  privateers,  then  being  fitted 
out  in  Wilmington,  to  be  seized.  He  was  thus  brought  into  con- 
flict with  Bloodworth,  and  Hill,  United  States  district  attorney, 
but  his  position  was  sustained  by  the  Federal  authorities. 

After  a  few  years  in  private  life  he  was  elected  a  representa- 
tive in  Congress  to  fill  the  unexpired  term  of  Nathan  Bryan, 
deceased,  and  took  his  seat  December  10,  1798  (3d  sess.,  Sth 
Cong.).  He  was  reelected  to  the  sixth  Congress,  1799-1801,  but 
his  feeble  health  during  these  years  prevented  him  from  taking 
an  active  part  in  the  proceedings.  When  the  contested  presi- 
dential election  of  1801  was  thrown  into  the  House  of  Repre- 
sentatives, Spaight  with  five  of  the  other  North  Carolina  rep- 
resentatives voted  for  Jefiferson;  the  other  four  voted  for  Burr. 
At  the  end  of  the  sixth  Congress  (March  4,  1801)  he  returned 


402  NORTH  CAROLINA 

home  and  declined  reelection.  But  the  Republican  Party  was  now 
in  power,  the  Federalists  were  in  desperate  straits,  and  party  spirit 
was  at  its  highest.  Spaight  was  the  recognized  leader  of  the 
Republicans  in  the  New-Bern  section,  and  John  Stanly  of  the 
Federalists.  Spaight  was  elected  to  represent  Craven  County 
in  the  State  Senate  in  1801 ;  Stanly  succeeded  him  as  member  of 
the  Federal  Congress.  There  were  frequent  discussions  be- 
tween these  leaders ;  these  became  personal  and  bitter ;  Stanly 
charged  Spaight  with  dodging  under  plea  of  ill  health  when  mat- 
ters of  grave  import,  like  the  alien  and  sedition  laws,  came  up  in 
Congress.  Spaight  replied  in  a  handbill,  which  caused  Stanly 
to  send  a  challenge.  It  was  accepted  and  the  contestants  met  on 
the  outskirts  of  New-Bern  on  Sunday  afternoon,  September  5, 
1802.  On  the  fourth  fire  Governor  Spaight  was  mortally 
wounded  and  died  the  next  day.  Criminal  proceedings  were  be- 
gun against  Stanly;  he  applied  to  the  Governor  for  pardon,  justi- 
fying his  action.  Stanly  later  attained  positions  of  honor  and 
died  in  1834. 

Governor  Spaight  married  about  1795  Miss  Mary  Leach,  of 
Holmesburg,  Pa.  They  had  two  sons:  Richard  Dobbs  Spaight, 
Jr.,  who  also  became  governor,  and  Charles  B.  Spaight,  and  a 
daughter,  Margaret,  who  married  Honorable  John  R.  Donnell. 
The  sons  died  unmarried,  but  there  are  living  descendants 
throughout  the  female  line. 

That  Spaight  was  republican  to  the  core  is  evinced  by  his  en- 
tering the  American  army  when  all  previous  training  and  personal 
history  would  have  carried  him  to  the  other  side,  and  by  his 
espousal  of  the  interests  of  the  new  radical  party  when  offices  and 
rewards  seemed  bound  up  with  the  conservatives ;  that  he  was  a 
man  of  ability  is  clearly  shown  by  the  numerous  offices  filled  and 
by  the  early  age  at  which  they  were  attained.  He  performed 
always  faithfully  and  well  his  duty  as  he  saw  it,  and  there  is  no 
stain  on  his  pubHc  or  private  character. 

Stephen  B.  Weeks. 


RICHARD   DOBBS   SPAIGHT,   JR. 

I;  HE  State  of  North  Carolina  has  had  two  gov- 
ernors— father  and  son — who  bore  the  name 
Richard  Dobbs  Spaight;  and  in  the  maternal 
line  they  were  descended  from  a  sister  of 
Arthur  Dobbs,  one  of  the  royal  governors.  The 
family  of  Spaight,  like  that  of  Dobbs,  was  set- 
tled in  Ireland.  Sketches  will  be  found  elsewhere  in  this  work 
of  the  elder  Governor  Spaight,  and  also  of  Governor  Dobbs. 

Richard  Dobbs  Spaight,  the  younger,  was  born  in  the  town 
of  New-Bern  in  the  year  1796.  When  he  was  only  six  years  old 
his  father  died  (September  6,  1802)  in  consequence  of  a  wound 
received  the  preceding  day  in  a  duel  with  the  Honorable  John 
Stanly.  The  duel  between  these  two  gentlemen  was  the  out- 
growth of  a  political  controversy. 

The  younger  Spaight  received  his  preparatory  education  in 
the  schools  of  New-Bern,  and  afterwards  entered  the  University 
of  North  Carolina.  From  the  latter  institution  he  graduated  in 
1815.  Later  he  took  up  the  study  of  law;  and,  in  due  time,  re- 
ceived his  license  as  an  attorney. 

In  1819  Mr.  Spaight  sat  as  a  member  of  the  North  Carolina 
House  of  Commons  from  his  native  county  of  Craven ;.  and  was 
State  Senator  therefrom  in  1820,  1821  and  1822.  Shortly  there- 
after he  was  elected  to  the  Eighteenth  Congress  of  the  United 
States,  his  term  extending  from  December  i,  1823,  till  March  3, 


404  NORTH  CAROLINA 

1825.  In  the  same  year  that  he  retired  from  Congress,  he  was 
again  elected  State  Senator  from  Craven  County,  and  served  con- 
tinuously from  1825  till  1834.  Twice  during  his  career  in  the 
State  Senate — in  1828  and  1830 — he  was  placed  in  nomination 
for  Speaker ;  but  the  honor  on  the  first  occasion  fell  upon  a  gentle- 
man with  a  surname  somewhat  similar  to  his  own — the  Honorable 
Jesse  Speight — and  the  Honorable  David  F.  Caldwell  was  elected 
in  the  second  instance. 

In  the  State  Constitutional  Convention  of  1835,  the  representa- 
tives from  Craven  County  were  Richard  Dobbs  Spaight  and  Wil- 
liam Gaston.  In  that  body  Mr.  Spaight  was  chairman  of  the 
committee  which  prepared  and  submitted  rules  for  the  govern- 
ment of  the  Convention ;  and  was  one  of  those  who  voted  to  re- 
peal that  portion  of  the  Constitution  which,  in  terms,  prohibited 
Roman  Catholics  from  holding  office — though  this  disqualifying 
clause  had  always  been  a  dead  letter,  as  shown  by  the  political 
honors  heaped  upon  Thomas  Burke,  William  Gaston  and  other 
Roman  Catholics,  at  different  times  in  our  State's  history  before 
the  Constitution  was  amended  in  1835. 

The  General  Assembly  elected  Mr.  Spaight  governor  of  North 
Carolina  in  1835,  and  he  was  duly  inaugurated  on  the  loth  of 
December  in  that  year.  He  was  the  last  governor  elected  by 
the  Legislature.  He  served  as  governor  a  little  more  than 
one  year,  until  December  31,  1836,  when  his  successor,  Edward 
B.  Dudley  (the  first  governor  elected  by  popular  vote)  was  sworn 
in.  In  this  first  contest  before  the  people  Spaight  was  the  oppos- 
ing candidate  to  Dudley,  but  was  defeated. 

Governor  Spaight  took  little  part  in  politics  after  his  retire- 
ment from  the  executive  chair.  Returning  to  New-Bern,  he 
there  practised  law  until  his  death,  which  occurred  on  the  2d  of 
November,  1850.     He  was  never  married. 

News  of  the  death  of  Governor  Spaight  having  reached  Ral- 
eigh on  the  2ist  of  November,  the  Legislature  adjourned  out  of 
respect  for  his  memory,  in  pursuance  of  the  unanimous  passage 
of  a  set  of  resolutions  introduced  by  Senator  William  B.  Shepard 
as  follows : 


RICHARD  DOBBS  SPAIGHT,  JR. 


405 


"Resolved:  By  the  Senate  and  House  of  Commons,  That  the  members 
of  the  present  Legislature  have  heard  with  deep  sensibility  of  the 
death  of  Richard  Dobbs  Spaight,  one  of  the  Governors  of  the  State  of 
North  Carolina,  and  the  last  under  her  old  Constitution. 

Resolved:  That  in  testimony  of  our  respect  for  one  who  has  filled 
the  high  position  of  Chief  Magistrate  of  this  Commonwealth,  we  will 
now  adjourn. 

Resolved:  That  a  copy  of  these  resolutions,  signed  by  the  Speakers 
of  the  Senate  and  House  of  Commons,  be  forwarded  to  the  family  of 
the  late  Governor  Spaight  as  a  testimony  of  our  sympathy  in  their 
affliction." 

Governor  Spaight  was  a  zealous  member  of  the  Masonic  Fra- 
ternity and  often  attended  sessions  of  the  Grand  Lodge.  He  was 
well  posted  on  Masonic  law,  and  an  indefatigable  worker  on  com- 
mittees. From  December  14,  1830,  till  December  17,  1832,  he  was 
Grand  Master  of  the  Grand  Lodge. 


Marshall  De  Lancey  Haywood. 


RICHARD    HARRISON    SPEIGHT 


R.  SPEIGHT  is  a  product  of  North  Carolina 
country  life.  Born  and  reared  in  the  country, 
he  has  given  his  life,  professionally  and  per- 
sonally, to  country  work  and  country  people. 
Whatever  is  best  in  him  he  has  given  out  to 
the  country;  and  whatever  is  best  in  the  coun- 
try he  has  absorbed  into  himself.  In  him  the  progressive  spirit 
of  the  New  South,  which  takes  its  color  from  the  modern  city, 
has  kept  faith  with  the  noble  traditions  of  the  Old  South,  which 
drew  its  inspiration  from  the  plantation.  He  was  born  on  a  farm 
in  Edgecombe  County,  January  5,  1847.  From  his  father,  John 
Francis  Speight,  a  minister  of  the  Methodist  Protestant  Church,- 
he  inherited  the  talents  which  have  made  him  a  successful  man 
of  business,  and  the  inclinations  which  have  led  him  throughout 
his  career  to  take  an  active  interest  in  public  affairs.  His  mother 
was  Emma  Lewis,  a  woman  of  strong  religious  convictions,  whose 
influence  on  the  religious  and  spiritual  life  of  her  son  has  been 
a  constant  source  of  strength  to  him  since  his  childhood.  From 
childhood  he  has  been  a  member  of  the  Methodist  Protestant- 
Church. 

Dr.  Speight  was  a  delicate  child  and  consequently  was  not 
given  the  regular  tasks  which  usually  fall  to  the  lot  of  the  country 
boy.  His  great  delight  was  running  about  the  farm  and  roaming 
in  the  woods,  where  he  fell  in  love  with  nature  and  learned  the 


^■7^.  btf  £:£!.  T^T/Aivns  3Srs  71^ 


^a^^uyy^ 


RICHARD  HARRISON  SPEIGHT  407 

language  and  habits  of  the  flowers  and  the  birds.  At  home  his 
hours  were  chiefly  devoted  to  reading,  a  habit  which,  becoming 
stronger  as  he  advanced  in  life,  has  had  no  little  to  do  with  his 
success. 

His  early  school  life  was  interrupted  by  the  war  between  the 
States.  At  the  age  of  seventeen  he  laid  aside  his  books  to  assume 
the  musket.  In  April,  1864,  he  entered  the  Army  as  a  corporal 
in  Company  K.,  Seventy-flrst  North  Carolina  Regiment.  His 
regiment  participated  in  the  battle  of  South  West  Creek,  below 
Kinston,  and  in  the  battle  of  Bentonsville.  Typhoid  fever  pre- 
vented his  being  present  at  the  surrender  of  General  Johnston.^ 

Upon  his  recovery  from  the  fever,  Dr.  Speight  resumed  his 
preparatory  studies,  and,  after  completing  them,  entered  the  Uni- 
versity of  North  Carolina.  Here  he  spent  one  and  a  half  years 
and  then  entered  upon  his  professional  studies  at  the  University 
of  Maryland.  He  received  his  degree  in  1870,  returned  to  North 
Carolina  and  settled  on  Swift  Creek,  in  Edgecombe  County,  in 
the  midst  of  a  fine  farming  section  and  delightful  social  life.  The 
next  year  he  was  married  to  Miss  Margaret  Powell,  daughter 
of  Mr.  Jesse  Powell,  a  prominent  citizen  of  the  county  and  one  of 
Dr.  Speight's  neighbors.  Their  home,  famous  for  its  charming 
hospitality,  soon  became  the  centre  of  a  delightful  social  life. 

Dr.  Speight  has  led  an  active,  arduous  life  as  a  practicing 
physician,  and  has  earned  well-deserved  success  in  his  profes- 
sion, of  which  he  is  a  close  and  constant  student.  No  drive  is 
too  long,  no  weather  too  severe,  for  him  to  attend  to  its  exacting 
duties,  and  no  patient  is  too  humble  to  receive  his  most  careful 
attention.  He  is  a  member  of  the  Edgecombe  County  Medical 
Society,  of  which  he  has  been  several  times  president ;  an  honorary 
member  of  the  Wilson  County  Medical  Society,  and  a  member  of 
the  State  Society,  of  which  he  has  been  vice-president  and  a  mem- 
ber of  its  board  of  censors. 

Dr.  Speight  has  large  farming  interests.  His  farms  lie  on 
Swift  Creek  and  are  among  the  most  fertile,  as  well  as  among 
the  best  cultivated  in  the  State.  Cotton,  corn,  tobacco  and  pea- 
nuts are  produced  in  large  quantities.    He  brings  the  same  degree 


4o8  NORTH  CAROLINA 

of  intelligence  and  study  into  his  farming  that  he  does  into  the 
practice  of  his  profession,  and  consequently  realizes  large  divi- 
dends from  his  investments. 

As  president  of  the  Edgecombe  County  Farmers'  Alliance,  and 
as  a  prominent  and  active  member  of  the  State  Farmers'  Alliance, 
he  has  contributed  no  little  to  the  development  of  the  agricultural 
interests  of  North  Carolina.  His  associates  have  recognized  his 
services  to  the  agricultural  interests  of  the  State  by  electing  him 
in  August,  1905,  vice-president  of  the  North  Carolina  Farmers' 
Alliance,  and  a  delegate  to  the  National  Farmers'  Congress 
at  its  annual  meeting  in  Richmond.  He  is  president  of  a 
cotton  seed  oil  mill  located  near  his  farm,  and  has  managed 
it  with  a  considerable  degree  of  success.  The  mill  v^^as  erected 
largely  through  his  influence  and  energy  and  has  proved  a  suc- 
cessful enterprise,  contributing  much  to  the  upbuilding  of  the 
immediate  section  in  which  it  is  operated. 

But  if  there  is  anything  in  which  Dr.  Speight  finds  more  in- 
terest than  in  the  practice  of  medicine,  it  is  in  politics.  In  his 
political  career  he  has  done  signal  service  to  his  county  and  to 
his  State.  An  ardent  Democrat  in  the  larger  meaning  of  the 
word,  as  well  as  in  its  party  significance,  his  ardor  finds  vent  in 
political  service  to  the  whole  people  regardless  of  party  affilia- 
tion. He  made  his  first  essay  into  political  life  in  1885,  when  he 
was  nominated  by  his  party  as  a  candidate  for  the  State  Seriate 
from  Edgecombe  County.  Defeated  at  the  polls,  he  returned 
again  to  the  contest  in  1890  and  was  elected  to  the  Senate  by  a 
majority  of  three  hundred.  His  services  in  the  Legislature  were 
creditable  to  himself  and  acceptable  to  his  constituents,  so  that  in 
1898  when  political  conditions  in  the  State  called  her  very  best 
talent  to  the  General  Assembly,  they  rallied  around  Dr.  Speight 
and  sent  him  again  to  represent  them.  During  this  session  he 
added  greatly  to  his  reputation  as  a  wise  and  conscientious  rep- 
resentative. Among  the  important  services  he  rendered  the  State, 
two  deserve  especial  mention.  As  chairman  of  the  committee 
on  Insane  Asylums,  he  prepared  and  introduced  the  bill  to  revise, 
amend  and  consolidate  the  insanity  laws  of  the  State,  a  much 


RICHARD  HARRISON  SPEIGHT  409 

needed  measure,  which,  after  considerable  debate,  passed  both 
houses  by  large  majorities.  During  the  discussion.  Dr.  Speight's 
work  received  hearty  commendation  from  his  associates.  The 
other  service  mentioned  was  the  introduction  of  the  bill  to  erect 
a  memorial  to  Senator  Vance.  Dr.  Speight's  bill  carried  an  ap- 
propriation of  $3,000  for  the  erection  of  a  statue  of  the  great 
war  governor  in  the  capitol  square,  but  with  his  consent  it  was 
amended  so  as  to  increase  the  sum  appropriated  to  $5,000.  The 
bill  as  amended  passed  both  Houses  by  rising  votes.  The  presi- 
dent of  the  Senate  appointed  Senator  Speight  a  member  of  the 
committee  to  select  the  statue.  The  visitor  to  Raleigh  cannot 
fail  to  be  impressed  with  the  good  taste  and  fidelity  with  which 
the  committee  fulfilled  its  duty.  If  the  example  thus  set  by  Dr. 
Speight  and  his  associates  in  honoring  the  memory  of  one  of 
North  Carolina's  great  sons  shall  be  followed  by  future  legfis- 
latures,  this  service  will  entitle  him  and  them  to  the  gratitude  of 
the  patriotic  citizens  of  the  State.  Few,  if  any.  States  have  been 
more  backward  in  erecting  memorials  to  their  distinguished 
leaders  than  North  Carolina ;  yet  there  is  no  other  way  in  which  a 
State  can  so  effectively  stimulate  in  her  sons  a  worthy  and  proper 
ambition  to  patriotic  public  service,  a  sentiment  which  is  the  true 
foundation  of  success  in  a  Republican  Government.  The  people 
of  his  county  showed  their  appreciation  of  his  service  in  the 
Senate  by  reelecting  Dr.  Speight  to  the  General  Assembly  of 
1901.  During  this  session  he  again  served  as  chairman  of  the 
committee  on  Insane  Asylums. 

Dr.  Speight's  services  to  the  State  have  not  been  confined  to  his 
legislative  career.  He  was  appointed  by  Governor  Elias  Carr 
a  director  of  the  North  Carolina  Insane  Asylum  and  served  on 
the  board  for  six  years.  In  1900  he  was  reappointed  by  Governor 
Russell,  but,  as  he  was  a  member  of  the  General  Assembly,  de- 
clined to  serve.  In  the  spring  of  1905  he  was  appointed  a  mem- 
ber of  the  board  of  directors  of  the  State  Prison. 

In  1890  he  was  a  delegate  from  North  Carolina  to  the  National 
Convention  of  the  Democratic  Party. 

Dr.  Speight's  private  life  has  been  singularly  happy.     He  is 


4IO  NORTH  CAROLINA 

father  of  a  large  family,  twelve  children  having  been  born  to 
him,  eleven  of  whom  are  living.  These  are  the  children  of  his 
first  wife,  whom  he  lost  after  a  married  hfe  of  twenty-three  years. 
In  1896  he  was  married  to  Miss  Margaret  Whitefield,  daughter 
of  George  W.  Whitefield,  who  was  a  prominent  lawyer  of  Edge- 
combe, and  later  of  Wilson  County.  They  have  no  children. 
Their  home  is  one  of  those  ideal  Southern  homes  that  one  rarely 
finds  except  in  novels.  A  large,  roomy,  rambling  house,  situated 
in  a  beautiful  grove,  surrounded  by  green  pastures  and  broad 
fields,  it  is  known  far  and  wide  for  its  open  and  enticing  hospi- 
tality. 

Dr.  Speight  is  fond  of  outdoor  life.  His  favorite  sport  is  fol- 
lowing the  hounds,  and  he  keeps  a  pack  constantly  about  him. 
His  open-air  life  has  developed  the  delicate  boy  into  a  robust  man 
of  great  physical  endurance,  active,  energetic,  persevering  and 
determined.  It  has  taught  him  the  value  of  close  and  accurate 
observation,  so  that  he  is  well  versed  in  the  habits  of  nature. 
But  with  it  all,  he  is  very  uncommunicative,  a  fact  that  produces 
a  little  surprise  when  one  discovers  behind  his  silence  a  fund  of 
quiet  humor,  none  the  less  striking  because  it  is  altogether  un- 
expected. He  takes  an  active  but  not  officious  interest  in  the 
welfare  of  his  neighbors,  to  whom  he  is  always  ready  to  extend 
a  helping  hand  whenever  he  can  be  of  service.  These  habits 
of  life  and  qualities  of  character  coupled  with  a  strong  love  of 
home  and  home-life  have  been  the  foundation  upon  which  his 
success  has  been  built. 

R.  D.  W.  Connor. 


JOHN    WALTER    STEPHENS 

"Under  the  influence  of  such  feelings,  and  impelled  by  fanaticism 
and  love  of  power,  they  would  not  stop  at  emancipation.  Another 
step  would  be  taken — to  raise  them  to  a  political  and  social  equality 
with  their  former  owners — by  giving  them  the  right  of  voting  and 
holding  office." — John  C.  Calhoun,  in  1849. 

HE  attitude  of  the  people  of  the  South  towards 
the  Union  at  the  end  of  the  war  was  affected, 
more  or  less,  by  the  political  antecedents  of  indi- 
viduals. Those  who  believed  secession  to  be 
a  method  of  separation  authorized  by  the  Fed- 
eral Constitution  felt  that  they  had  done  their 
best,  their  whole  duty,  and  now  preferred  submission  to  pro- 
longing what  was  necessarily  a  desperate  and  hopeless  struggle. 
Those  who  had  regarded  that  dogma  as  an  unjustifiable  political 
heresy  accepted  its  final  overthrow  with  more  equanimity.  Both 
classes,  however,  welcomed  peace,  not  with  glad  hearts,  but  with 
contented  resignation,  looking  to  the  future  with  an  anxiety  not 
unmingled  with  hope,  and  determining  with  God's  help  to  make 
the  best  of  conditions  which  they  could  not  control.  The  sol- 
dier, too,  welcomed  peace.  To  him  it  was  a  cessation  of  the  hard- 
ships, privations,  and  dangers  to  which  he  had  been  hourly  ex- 
posed, and  to  his  kinsfolk  it  brought  relief  from  the  terrible 
strain  of  a  continuous  anxiety  about  the  loved  ones  at  the  front. 
Certainly  all  these  classes  desired  and  hoped  for  the  reestablish- 


412  NORTH  CAROLINA 

ment  of  civil  government,  and  that  could  be  expected  only  in  the 
Union.  There  is  no  possible  room  for  doubt  that  they  were 
wholly  sincere  in  accepting  the  situation  and  attempting  to  ac- 
commodate themselves  to  it.  There  was  no  pretence  of  a  revived 
love  for  the  Union.  They  hoped  that  with  justice  and  fair  treat- 
ment by  their  conquerors  it  might  come  later.  Now  it  was  a 
sighing  for  peace  and  an  opportunity  to  rehabilitate  their  fortunes. 
They  would  not  have  been  surprised  at  some  proscription  among 
them,  indeed  rather  expected  it.  They  never  once  presumed  to 
hope  that  they  could  take  up  the  thread  of  their  political  life 
right  where  they  had  broken  it  four  years  before.  They  did  not 
think  they  could  become  immediately  an  active  part  of  that  gov- 
ernment which  they  had  fought  to  destroy.  "The  people  of 
North  Carolina,"  said  their  representatives  in  Legislature  as- 
sembled December  9,  1865,  "are  loyal  to  the  Government  of  the 
United  States,  and  are  ready  to  make  any  concessions  not  incon- 
sistent with  their  honor  and  safety  for  the  restoration  of  that 
harmony  upon  which  their  prosperity  and  security  depend." 

The  negro,  intoxicated  with  his  new-found  freedom,  embraced 
it  as  bringing  to  him  life  without  work  and  without  the  control 
of  the  dominant  white  man.  He  loved  to  realize  it  by  severing 
old  ties,  by  changing  his  name,  by  moving  from  place  to  place, 
and  by  insolently,  in  season  and  out  of  season,  announcing  that  he 
was  as  good  as  any  white  man,  a  doctrine  taught  him  by  his 
liberators.  In  this,  truly,  was  the  beginning  of  evils,  which, 
though  in  a  modified  form,  continue  until  this  day.  For  him, 
with  a  child's  intellect  and  a  child's  experience  of  the  world 
united  with  a  man's  strength  and  a  man's  passions,  there  must 
be  an  era  of  tutelage  before  he  should  be  fitted  for  the  duties  of 
citizenship.  Could  the  old  master,  between  whom  and  him  were 
many  ties  of  affection  and  gratitude,  be  trusted  to  train  and  guide 
him  in  the  affairs  of  this  world?  Could  the  Southern  churches, 
always  interested  in  his  moral  and  religious  welfare,  be  trusted 
with  his  moral  and  religious  training?  No,  said  the  radicals ;  his 
friends  were  at  the  North,  his  enemies  at  the  South.  Converting 
John  C.  Calhoun's  prophecy  of  1849  into  history  by  using  the 


JOHN  WALTER  STEPHENS  41 J 

past,  instead  of  the  future,  tense,  "Owing  his  emancipation  to 
the  people  of  the  North,  the  negro  regarded  them  as  friends, 
guardians  and  patrons,  and  centered  all  his  sympathy  in  them. 
The  people  of  the  North  did  not  fail  to  reciprocate,  and  favored 
him  instead  of  the  whites." 

The  first  outcome  of  this  feeling  was  the  Freedman's  Bureau, 
a  benevolent  mistake,  tending  more  to  intensify  evil  conditions 
than  to  alleviate  them,  causing  the  negro  to  look  inore  and  more 
to  the  North  for  aid  and  less  and  less  to  his  neighbors  of  the 
South.  In  some  instances  the  officer  in  charge  of  a  local  bureau 
was  a  man  of  intelligence  and  character,  who  realized  the  delicate 
responsibilities  of  his  position  and  sought  to  do  justice  between 
white  and  black ;  but  this  seemed  to  render  him  obnoxious  to  the 
powers  that  were,  and  he  was  soon  removed.  Others  were  little- 
souled  tyrants,  bent  on  humiliating  the  whites,  as  they  pandered 
to  the  more  dangerous  passions  of  the  negroes.  All  this,  however, 
was  endurable.  It  to  some  extent  might  have  been  expected. 
Something  must  be  allowed  to  the  smaller  passions  of  the  con- 
querors. The  souls  of  many  men  are  so  pent  in  the  narrow  limits 
of  self-love  that  there  is  no  room  for  magnanimity.  It  is  a  gift 
of  God  only  to  the  truly  great.  So  the  South  did  not  expect  its 
conquerors  to  be  magnanimous ;  it  did  hope  that  they  would  be 
wise.  The  thrusting  of  unlimited  negro  suffrage  upon  it  then 
was  a  bitter  disappointment  as  well  as  a  terrible  humiliation.  It 
made  of  government  a  curse  instead  of  a  blessing,  a  source  of 
corruption  instead  of  a  foe  to  corruption. 

I  do  not  assert  that  the  South  had  a  monopoly  of  virtue,  and 
the  radicals  at  the  North  a  monopoly  of  hatred.  There  were 
extremists  at  the  South,  too;  irreconcilables,  men  whose  advice 
was  dictated  wholly  by  their  passions,  so  was  as  wholly  unwise. 
The  essential  difference  between  the  sections  is  to  be  found  in 
this — the  radicals  at  the  North  were  the  predominant  element, 
whereas  in  the  South  the  extremists  were  a  small  and  uninflu- 
ential  minority.  This  arose  not  from  any  dissimilarity  in  the 
characters  of  the  two  peoples,  but  solely  because  one  was  the  con- 
queror and  the  other  the  conquered.    With  the  latter  occupying 


414  NORTH  CAROLINA 

to  some  degree  the  position  of  a  suppliant,  cautious  counsels  must 
prevail.  The  white  race  of  the  South  had  its  defects,  but  it 
was  not  sordid.  Its  long  association  with  an  inferior  race  which 
it  held  in  bondage  tended  to  make  it  proud,  self-sufficient,  and 
sometimes  overbearing,  if  not  cruel.  But  nowhere  in  the  world 
was  the  white  man  so  free,  so  independent,  so  sensitive  to  any 
encroachments  upon  his  natural  or  political  rights,  as  in  the  South 
before  the  war.  When,  therefore,  Congress  made  the  recent 
slave  the  political  master  of  this  proud,  this  self-reliant,  this  sensi- 
tive race,  it  established  a  slavery  more  corrupting,  more  debasing, 
more  cruel  than  that  which  had  recently  been  abolished  by  con- 
stitutional amendment.  The  evils  resulting  from  such  a  policy 
were  so  evident  and  so  far-reaching  that  the  leaders  in  Congress 
could  not  have  adopted  it  unless  they  had  first  been  blinded  by 
fanaticism,  by  hatred,  or  by  lust  for  political  power. 

The  news  of  the  perpetration  of  this  infamy,  as  they  called  it, 
was  received  by  the  people  of  North  Carolina  with  intense  bitter- 
ness. What  should  they  do?  The  vilest  negro  brute  who  stood 
upon  the  street  corners  and  crowded  ladies  oflf  the  sidewalk,  lest 
they  should  come  into  contact  with  his  bestial  person,  could  vote, 
while  General  Lee  and  Governor  Vance  and  thousands  of  the 
best  citizens  could  not.  What  could  they  do?  To  fight  was  no 
longer  possible.  Expatriate  themselves?  They  were  poverty- 
stricken,  their  property,  if  they  owned  any,  burdened  with  mort- 
gages, and  they  could  take  nothing  with  them.  Besides,  was  it  not 
their  country,  their  home,  won  by  the  blood  or  sweat  of  their  an- 
cestors? Could  they  bear  with  patience  the  thought  that  these 
negroes,  these  slaves  but  of  yesterday,  African  barbarians,  who 
now  were  their  political  equals  and  absorbing  to  themselves  the 
lion's  share  of  all  public  places  and  public  utilities,  should  also 
be  looking  forward  to  the  time  when  they  would  become  the  social 
equals  of  their  wives  or  daughters  or  sisters?  It  was  then  that 
the  Ku  Klux  Klan  (I  .use  the  term  generally)  appeared  in  the 
State,  and  it  was  welcomed  by  some,  as,  if  not  a  solution  of  the 
problem,  certainly  tending  to  ameliorate  conditions. 

This  organization,  arrogating  to  itself  as  it  did  the  power  of 


JOHN  WALTER  STEPHENS  415 

punishment  and  of  life  and  death,  would  under  normal  conditions 
have  been  a  deadly  threat  to  the  peace  and  welfare  of  the  com- 
munity, and  as  such  all  the  power  of  the  Government  should  have 
been  exerted  to  destroy  it.  The  excuse  for  its  existence  then  must 
be  found  in  the  conditions  which  gave  rise  to  it.  The  negro 
(I  repeat),  yesterday  a  docile  slave,  to-day  a  political  master 
and  wild  with  the  delusion  that,  at  last,  he  had  the  white  man 
at  his  feet ! — were  ever  conditions  so  maddening  to  a  proud  and 
high-spirited  race  as  they  were  to  the  people  of  the  South  at  that 
period?  But  this  was  not  all.  An  ignorant  and  corrupt  majority 
has  never  yet  lacked  unprincipled  leaders.  Profligates  from  the 
North  joined  profligates  from  the  South  (carpet-baggers  and  scal- 
awags) in  the  great  feast  which  the  wise  men  of  the  day  had 
spread  for  them.  They  brought  the  Union  League  with  them, 
ostensibly  to  protect  the  negro  in  the  enjoyment  of  his  civil  and 
political  rights,  but  really  to  make  of  him  a  political  unit  wholly 
under  the  control  of  these  profligate  adventurers.  It  became  an 
instrument  for  the  intimidation  (destruction  in  some  instances) 
of  a  small  class  of  negroes  who  were  not  only  willing  but  anxious 
to  confide  in  their  former  masters.  But  the  Union  League  was 
more  than  an  efficient  political  machine.  It  became  a  military 
organization  in  which  the  negroes  were  armed  and  drilled  and 
taught  that  they  had  nothing  to  fear  from  the  whites,  that  the 
United  States  Government  would  sustain  and  defend  them,  do 
what  they  might ;  that  their  friends  were  in  office  and  would  con- 
tinue in  office ;  that  the  whites,  far  from  having  any  rights  which 
they  were  bound  to  respect,  were  a  conquered  and  degraded  race, 
whose  lands  were  ultimately  to  be  taken  from  them  and  parceled 
out  among  the  loyal  negroes.  The  effect  on  the  credulous,  un- 
taught African  mind  was  powerful.  All  this  before  the  organiza- 
tion of  the  Ku  Klux.  An  open  organization  among  the  whites, 
even  for  protection,  was  an  impossibility.  It  would  have  been 
heralded  at  the  North  as  disloyal.  It  would  have  brought  about 
numerous  conflicts  between  the  armed  whites  and  the  armed  blacks, 
resulting  in  a  race  war  whose  horrors  can  scarcely  be  imagined, 
with  interposition  of  the  Federal  Government  not  to  be  avoided. 


4i6  NORTH  CAROLINA 

But  the  Klan  with  its  secrecy,  its  weird  methods  and  disguises, 
its  gruesome  symbols  and  its  appalling  midnight  raids,  could  in- 
timidate and  control  the  negro,  and  administer  justice  to  criminals 
who  otherwise  would  escape,  without  drawing  upon  the  people  at 
large  the  vengeance  of  the  Federal  Government. 

Arguments  like  these  appealed  to  many  good  men  and  they 
became  members  of  the  Klan,  while  others  as  patriotic,  but  more 
conservative,  declined  to  have  anything  to  do  with  an  organiza- 
tion whose  mission  was  confessedly  illegal. 

It  was  in  1868  that  signs  of  its  existence  began  to  appear  in 
Orange,  Alamance  and  Caswell  Counties,  weird  warnings  to  the 
obnoxious,  persistent  rumors  of  ghostly  night-riders,  who  after 
riding  about  would  disappear  at  some  old  cemetery;  notices 
tacked  up,  decorated  with  skull  and  crossbones  and  signed  by 
some  potentate  of  the  infernal  regions;  rough  board  coffins  left 
at  the  house  over  night  of  some  loud-mouthed  and  insolent  negro 
leader,  etc.,  all  intended  to  excite  the  superstitious  fears  of  the 
most  superstitious  of  all  semi-civilized  races.  Uf>on  the  negroes 
at  large  the  effect  was  immediate.  Their  tone  became  milder, 
their  approaches  to  the  more  respectable  whites  more  respectful. 
The  drunken  street  loafer  was  converted  into  a  busy  laborer,  the 
politician  ceased  to  harangue  crowds  of  idle  negroes  on  the  streets, 
and  ladies  could  pass  along  them  without  danger  of  insult. 
But  this  improvement  was  not  agreeable  to  the  leaders  of  the 
negroes.  All  the  power  of  the  Union  League  was  invoked  to  up- 
hold the  courage  of  its  members.  To  do  this  they  must  be  con- 
vinced that  what  they  had  seen  or  heard  was  not  supernatural, 
but  only  white  men  whom  they  knew,  masquerading  for  efifect. 
Night  after  night  the  bolder  spirits  among  them  were  put  as 
spies  about  the  home  of  any  suspected  white  man.  Soon,  how- 
ever, this  was  discovered,  and  the  watchers  were  driven  off. 
This  counter  movement  among  the  negroes  must  be  checked,  so 
some  of  the  negro  leaders  were  taken  out  of  their  houses  at  night 
and  whipped  by  disguised  horsemen.  To  this  point  there  is  no 
doubt  that  the  Klan  had  the  situation  well  in  hand.  Then  the 
white  radicals  suggested  to  the  negroes  retaliation,  and  the  burn- 


JOHN  WALTER  STEPHENS  417 

ing  of  barns  and  other  buildings  commenced,  to  be  followed,  how- 
ever, almost  immediately  by  the  swift  justice  of  these  midnight 
executioners.  The  barn-burners  were  either  shot  or  hung.  The 
next  step  in  this  progressive  war  was  a  movement  among  the 
Ku  Klux  themselves  to  rid  the  section  of  the  obnoxious  white 
radicals  who  they  had  good  reason  to  believe  were  the  insti- 
gators of  this  retaliation  or  had  taken  an  active  part  in  the  attempt 
to  make  the  negro  the  political  master  of  the  white  man. 

Judge  Albion  W.  Tourgee  was  once  condemned  by  the  Klan, 
but  the  condemnation  was  reversed  at  the  insistence  of  one  of 
the  most  influential  leaders  of  the  organization,  and  he  was  not 
molested.  T.  M.  Shofner,  of  Alamance  (author  of  the  Shofner 
Act),  was  condemned,  and  he  saved  his  life  only  by  fleeing.  John 
W.  Stephens,  of  Caswell,  was  condemned,  and  after  repeated 
warnings  executed. 

"John  Walter  Stephens  was  born  in  Guilford  County  October 
14,  1834.  His  parents  were  good  people,  comfortably  situated  on 
a  farm,  and  were  consistent  members  of  the  Methodist  Church. 
His  father  died  when  he  was  about  eighteen  years  of  age,  leaving 
a  wife,  four  sons,  and  two  daughters.  Walter,  with  his  brothers, 
lived  on  the  farm  and  supported  the  family.  A  few  years  later  he 
learned  to  make  harness,  and  went  into  the  harness  business.  His 
education  was  of  a  very  ordinary  sort,  for  he  had  only  the  advan- 
tages of  the  common  schools.  He  studied  a  great  deal  at  home, 
however.  When  he  grew  into  more  matured  life  he  often  mourned 
his  lack  of  education,  and  he  used  to  say  that  was  what  every  poor 
man  owed  to  slavery." 

Later  he  took  up  his  residence  in  Wentworth,  where  his  first 
wife  died,  and  he  married  again.  About  this  time  he  engaged  in 
the  tobacco  business  and  became  agent  and  collector  at  York- 
ville.  South  Carolina,  for  a  manufacturer  named  Powell. 

He  was  residing  in  North  Carolina  at  the  outbreak  of  the  war, 
but  refused  to  volunteer,  and  saved  himself  from  conscriptfon 
by  securing  a  petty  office  under  the  Confederate  Government. 

It  was  after  his  return  to  Wentworth  that  he  killed  two  of  a 
neighbor's  chickens,  which  were  trespassing  upon  his  grain,  and 


4i8  NORTH  CAROLINA 

carried  them  to  the  wife  of  that  neighbor  and  oflfered  them  to 
her,  an  offer  which  she  in  the  heat  of  temper  dechned.  He  then 
took  them  back  to  his  own  house  and  had  them  cooked  for  his 
dinner.  That  afternoon  the  neighbor,  Mr.  RatcHffe,  had  him  ar- 
rested for  larceny  and  he  was  bound  over  to  court.  Being  unable 
to  secure  the  bond,  he  spent  one  night  in  jail.  As  soon  as  he  was 
released  the  next  day  he  armed  himself  with  a  stick  and  a  pistol, 
went  across  to  Ratcliffe's  store  and  attacked  him,  striking  him 
a  heavy  blow  on  his  head.  A  Lieutenant  Baker,  standing  by,  at- 
tempted to  interfere,  and  Stephens,  drawing  his  pistol,  opened 
fire,  wounding  Baker  (fortunately  a  scalp  wound)  and  a  young 
fellow  named  Law,  a  son  of  a  magistrate,  in  an  arm.  It  was  this 
episode  that  afterwards  gave  him  so  much  trouble  when  he  be- 
came a  politician,  causing  him  to  be  dubbed  by  his  foes  Chicken 
Stephens.  He  may  be  wholly  absolved  from  any  felonious  intent 
in  the  transaction  (I  have  given  his  own  story),  still  the  episode 
with  its  sequel  throws  some  light  on  the  immediate  cause  of  his 
death,  and  I  relate  it  for  what  it  is  worth. 

In  1866  he  removed  to  Yancey ville,  in  Caswell  County,  and, 
realizing  his  opportunity,  when  the  suffrage  was  conferred  upon 
the  negro  he  became  a  Republican. 

Conditions  in  Caswell  at  that  time  were  different  from  those 
in  any  one  of  the  group  of  counties  immediately  about  it.  While 
the  negroes  were  in  a  majority,  they  were  influenced  by  Wilson 
Cary  to  divide  offices  with  the  whites,  and  the  latter  generally 
were  allowed  the  county  commissioners  and  one  member  of  the 
House  of  Representatives,  Wilson  himself  being  the  other  mem- 
ber. He  was  an  old-line  negro,  and  out  of  politics  was  probably 
as  valuable  a  citizen  as  could  be  found  among  his  race.  Stephens, 
however,  soon  became  a  political  power  in  the  county,  head  of  the 
Union  League  and  general  organizer  of  the  negroes. 

It  is  difficult  for  one  who  did  not  live  at  the  period  to  under- 
stand the  virulence  of  party  animosity  at  that  time.  But  when 
he  realizes  that  each  campaign  was  a  contest  for  supremacy  be- 
tween the  races,  the  difficulty  vanishes.  White  men  like  Stephens, 
then,  who  organized,  controlled  and  directed  the  political  strength 


JOHN  WALTER  STEPHENS  419 

of  the  negroes,  in  opposition  to  the  whites,  was  by  them  regarded 
as  the  very  worst  of  traitors  and  the  vilest  of  criminals — just 
as  it  would  be  now  if  there  should  be  a  war  between  the  races 
and  a  white  man  should  lead  the  negroes  to  the  destruction  of 
his  own  race.  John  W.  Stephens  was  one  of  the  shrewdest  and 
boldest  and  most  vindictive  of  the  negro  leaders.  He  it  was  who 
in  the  Union  League  meetings  suggested  to  the  negroes  retalia- 
tion upon  the  whites.  He  it  was  who  organized  a  system  of  spy- 
ing upon  those  white  men  who  were  thought  to  be  of  the  Klan, 
and  he  was  himself  the  active  agent  of  the  government  in  the  at- 
tempt to  destroy  the  Klan  in  the  county  of  Caswell.  In  this  sense, 
it  became  a  life-and-death  struggle  between  him  and  that  organiza- 
tion. After  numerous  warnings  and  opportunities  to  make  his 
escape  or  change  his  manner  of  life,  he  was  condemned,  and  agents 
to  execute  the  decree  of  the  Klan  were  appointed. 

There  was  a  Democratic  meeting  in  the  court  house  at  Yancey- 
ville,  May  21,  1870.  Squire  Hodnett  was  speaking  and  Stephens 
was  present,  taking  notes.  Ex-Sheriff  F.  A.  Wiley  had  been 
approached  by  him  in  the  morning  with  a  proposition  that  he, 
Wiley,  should  be  a  candidate  for  the  office  of  sheriff  on  the  Re- 
publican ticket,  and  Wiley  had  promised  to  give  him  an  answer 
before  he  left  town.  Mr.  Wiley,  as  he  was  preparing  to  leave  for 
his  home,  went  up-stairs,  spoke  to  Stephens  as  he  sat  in  the  crowd 
of  listeners,  and  the  two  went  down-stairs.  Stephens  was  seen 
no  more  alive.  Wiley  afterwards  by  satisfactory  evidence  ac- 
counted for  his  own  movements.  He  had  called  Stephens  down 
to  tell  him  that  it  was  impossible  for  him  to  comply  with  his  re- 
quest in  regard  to  the  shrievalty,  and  after  some  further  con- 
versation had  left  him  standing  near  the  door  of  the  court  house, 
and  had  himself  immediately  gone  and  made  his  preparations 
for  return  home. 

Stephens  was  missed  a  half-hour  before  sunset.  The  next 
morning  his  body  was  found  in  the  room  formerly  occupied  by 
the  clerk  and  master  in  equity,  but  then  used  as  a  wood  room. 
It  was  lying  upon  a  pile  of  wood  and  about  his  neck  was  a  slip- 
noose  buried  deep  in  his  flesh,  while  on  each  side  of  his  neck  and 


420  NORTH  CAROLINA 


in  his  breast  were  wounds  made  by  a  dirk.  Beside  him  lay  his 
hat  and  the  bloody  dirk  with  which  he  had  been  stabbed.  The 
deringers  which  it  was  known  he  had  with  him  were  gone,  but 
his  gold  watch  and  chain  were  unmolested.  There  were  a  few 
drops  of  blood  on  the  floor  and  one  on  the  window  sill,  and  the 
door  was  found  to  be  locked  and  thumb-bolted  on  the  inside. 

There  can  be  no  reasonable  doubt  that  Stephens  was  executed 
by  authority  of  a  decree  of  the  Ku  Klux  Klan,  and  that  his  exe- 
cutioners were  very  few  in  number.  Who  they  were  no  one,  un- 
less some  of  their  number  are  still  living,  knows.  Able  detectives 
for  years  after  the  event  worked  upon  the  problem  and  were  never 
able  to  get  a  clue.  Rumors  there  have  been,  mere  gossip,  which 
could  not  for  a  moment  stand  the  test  of  intelHgent  investigation. 
It  may  be  that  the  members  of  the  Klan,  in  or  about  Yance)rville, 
knew  that  Stephens  was  to  be  executed  if  possible  that  day,  and 
it  is  almost  certain  that  they  were  stationed  about  with  a  view 
to  prevent  interference,  but  that  they  knew  who  the  executioners 
were  is  not  at  all  probable.  There  is  a  very  strong  impression 
among  some  that  the  deed  was  done  by  strangers  from  a  distance, 
made  up  and  disguised  for  the  purpose,  aided  and  abetted  by  the 
resident  members  of  the  Klan  who  could  be  safely  trusted,  but 
without  their  knowledge  of  the  minutiae  of  the  act  or  of  the  per- 
sonnel of  the  actors. 

It  is  too  close  to  the  event  to  measure  with  accurate  scales 
the  guilt  of  the  transaction,  but  it  is  certain  that  much  the  larger 
share  of  it  must  be  imputed  to  the  wise  men  of  the  day  who 
thought  that  they  could  by  legislation,  or  by  force,  reverse  the 
laws  of  God  and  of  nature. 

Stephens,  under  ordinary  conditions,  would  have  been  a  man 
of  average  usefulness,  and  could  have  proven  a  good  character  in 
court  at  any  time ;  but  there  was  no  man  who  used  negro  suffrage 
as  a  means  for  his  own  political  elevation  who  was  not  polluted 
by  it,  and  Stephens  was  not  an  exception.  His  vote  and  his  influ- 
ence were  both  to  be  counted  on  by  the  rogues  in  1868-9,  whether 
he  participated  in  the  distribution  of  the  spoils  or  not.  He  rep- 
resented Caswell  in  the  Senate  of  that  Legislature,  and  he  enjoyed 


JOHN  WALTER  STEPHENS 


421 


the  prominence  which  that  position  gave  him.  He  could  retain 
it  only  with  the  aid  of  his  negro  constituents,  and  he  courted 
their  favor  in  ways  that  rendered  him  wholly  obnoxious  to  the 
whites.  He,  though  formerly  a  consistent  member  of  the  Metho- 
dist Church,  was  dismissed  from  its  communion  in  disgrace. 
He  was  not  a  criminal  in  a  legal  sense,  deserving  death.  He  was 
only  a  self-seeker,  without  the  excuse  even  of  fanaticism,  op- 
posing himself  against  the  strongest  prejudices  of  a  maddened 
and  outraged  people.  What  wonder  then  that  he  should  have 
been  consumed  by  their  wrath! 

Frank  Nash. 


DAVID    STONE 


HE  North  Carolina  statesman,  David  Stone,  be- 
longed to  a  New  England  family  whose  earliest 
American  ancestor,  Gregory  Stone,  was  born  in 
England  in  1592  and  died  in  Massachusetts  in 
1672.  He  married  Lydia  Cooper,  and  among 
his  children  was  John  Stone  (born  in  1619,  died 
1683),  who  accompanied  his  father  to  America.  This  John  Stone 
married  Annie  Howe  and  had  (among  other  children)  David 
Stone,  who  was  born  in  1646  and  died  at  Cambridge,  Massachu- 
setts, in  1737.  Samuel  Stone,  a  son  of  this  David,  was  the  father 
of  Zedekiah  Stone  of  North  Carolina. 

Zedekiah  Stone  was  born  in  Massachusetts  in  1710.  He  re- 
moved to  North  Carolina  in  Colonial  days  and  settled  on  lands 
purchased  from  the  Tuscarora  Indians  in  Bertie  County. 
Throughout  the  Revolution  he  was  a  firm  patriot  and  served  the 
State  in  many  civil  capacities.  He  was  a  member  of  the  Provin- 
cial Congress  at  Hillsboro  in  August,  1775 ;  member  of  the  Com- 
mittee to  procure  arms  and  ammunition  for  the  Continental  Army, 
April  19,  1776;  member  of  the  Provincial  Congress  at  Halifax  in 
November,  1776;  commissioner  to  procure  guns  for  public  use, 
December  4,  1776;  and  State  Senator  from  Bertie  County  in  1777, 
1778,  1779,  and  after  the  war  in  1786.  The  number  of  slaves 
owned  by  him  in  1790  was  twenty-five.  He  married  Mrs.  Eliza- 
beth Hobson,  nee  Williamson,  and  one  of  his  children  was  David 


DAVID  STONE  423 


Stone,  our  present  subject.  Zedekiah  Stone  died  in  December, 
1796. 

David  Stone  was  born  on  the  17th  day  of  February,  1770,  at 
Hope,  his  father's  home,  about  five  miles  from  the  town  of  Wind- 
sor. His  father,  being  a  man  of  means,  determined  to  give  him 
the  best  educational  advantages,  and  sent  him  to  Princeton,  from 
which  college  he  graduated  with  the  first  honors  in  1788.  Re- 
turning to  North  Carolina,  he  studied  law  under  General  William 
Richardson  Davie  at  Halifax,  and  in  1790  was  licensed  to  practise. 
In  the  same  year,  not  being  yet  twenty-one  years  of  age,  he  rep- 
resented Bertie  County  in  the  House  of  Commons  and  was  con- 
tinuously reelected  until  1795.  In  that  year,  at  the  early  age  of 
twenty-five,  he  was  elevated  to  the  bench,  but  resigned  his  judge- 
ship after  a  service  of  three  years.  In  1799  he  was  elected  a  Mem- 
ber of  Congress,  but  so  shining  were  his  talents  and  so  extraordi- 
nary his  popularity  that  the  following  year,  November,  1800,  at 
the  age  of  but  thirty,  he  was  elected  to  the  United  States  Senate, 
to  succeed  Timothy  Bloodworth,  and  served  until  the  beginning 
of  the  year  1807.  Jesse  Franklin  having  been  elected  to  succeed 
him  in  the  Senate,  the  Legislature  at  the  same  session,  on  Decem- 
ber 15,  1806,  elected  Mr.  Stone  to  a  judgeship,  and  he  resigned 
as  senator  to  enter  on  his  duties  as  judge.  After  a  service  on  the 
bench  of  two  years  he  was  in  November,  1808,  elected  governor, 
was  sworn  in  as  such  a  fortnight  later,  and  served  two  annual 
terms,  the  last  ending  December  5,  1810,  when  his  successor,  Gov- 
ernor Benjamin  Smith,  was  inaugurated. 

During  Governor  Stone's  term  of  office  one  of  the  most  im- 
portant matters  before  the  public  eye  was  the  celebrated  suit  by 
the  heirs  of  Earl  Granville  to  recover  the  northern  half  of  North 
Carolina.  As  far  back  as  1729,  when  the  other  Lords  Proprietors 
of  Carolina  sold  their  lands  to  the  Crown,  the  Earl  of  Granville 
had  retained  the  domain  which  was  apportioned  to  him,  being  the 
northern  half  of  this  State,  and  this  descended  in  the  house  of 
Granville  until  the  time  of  the  Revolution,  when  it  was  confiscated. 
After  the  war  suit  was  brought  by  Lord  Granville's  heirs  for  the 
recovery  of  this  vast  tract.    The  plaintiffs  finally  lost  their  suit, 


424  NORTH  CAROLINA 

but  the  case  caused  some  consternation  in  North  CaroHna  for  a 
while.  It  was  pending  while  Governor  Stone  filled  the  executive 
chair,  and  he  urged  the  importance  of  making  some  provision  to 
meet  the  claims  of  those  who  had  purchased  from  the  State,  in 
case  of  a  decision  against  the  sufficiency  of  the  title  derived  from 
the  State.  "The  honor  of  the  State,"  said  he,  "is  greatly  inter- 
ested that  her  citizens  who  have  confided  in  her  justice  should  not 
be  placed  at  the  mercy  of  an  alien  to  our  laws  and  Government." 
At  the  next  session  Governor  Stone  reentered  the  North  Carolina 
House  of  Commons  from  Bertie  County,  serving  in  1811  and  1812. 
On  the  7th  of  December,  1812,  the  war  having  begun,  he  was 
again  elected  to  the  United  States  Senate,  taking  the  place  of 
Jesse  Franklin,  who  had  defeated  him  six  years  before.  Although 
elected  as  a  war  man,  Mr.  Stone's  course  relative  to  war  meas- 
ures in  Congress  met  with  great  disapproval  in  North  Carolina, 
and  resolutions  of  strong  censure  were  adopted  by  the  Legisla- 
ture which  caused  him  to  resign  after  attending  but  two  sessions 
of  the  Senate.  On  December  i,  1813,  the  State  Senate  appointed 
a  committee  to  act  jointly  with  a  committee  from  the  Lower  House 
in  taking  into  consideration  the  course  of  Mr.  Stone  as  a  Senator. 
This  committee  consisted  of  State  Senators  Thomas  Wynns  of 
Hertford,  John  Branch  of  Halifax,  and  Colonel  Joseph  Hawkins 
of  the  county  of  Warren.  This  action  (looking  to  inquiry)  by 
the  State  Senate  was  taken  by  a  majority  of  five  in  that  body,  and 
on  December  2d  the  House  of  Commons  concurred  by  a  majority 
of  four,  appointing  on  said  joint  committee  Messrs.  Thomas  Ruf- 
fin,  borough  representative  from  the  town  of  Hillsboro,  Lewis 
WilHams  of  Surry,  John  Hare  of  Granville,  John  Craige  of 
Orange,  William  R.  Johnson  of  Warren,  and  R.  Carter  Hilliard 
of  Nash.  On  December  15,  1813,  this  joint  committee  (through 
Senator  Branch)  laid  its  findings  before  the  Legislature  in  the 
following  language : 

"The  committee  appointed  to  inquire  into  the  political  conduct  of  David 
Stone.  Esquire,  a  Senator  from  this  State  in  the  Congress  of  the  United 
States,  respectfully  report  that  it  was  to  have  been  expected  that  any 
man   who  valued  the  honor   and   safety  of  his  country  would  not  have 


DAVID  STONE  425 


withheld  that  aid  which  was  indispensable  to  the  preservation  of  both ; 
much  less  was  it  to  be  anticipated  that  one  who  to  the  duties  of  a  citizen  had 
superadded  the  strongest  professions  of  his  approbation  of  the  measures 
of  the  general  Government  in  entering  into  the  war — who  impliedly,  if 
not  expressly,  avowed  himself  among  the  foremost  of  its  supporters — 
would  have  adopted  a  course  of  conduct  directly  opposite  to  that  ex- 
pected by  his  constituents  and  hostile  to  the  honor  and  interests  of  his 
country.  This  has  been  done  by  the  Honorable  David  Stone.  The  senti- 
ments of  the  people  of  this  State  and  of  the  Legislature  at  its  last  session 
were  unequivocally  in  favor  of  a  prosecution  of  the  war  in  which  the 
United  States  was  engaged  with  Great  Britain.  Their  opinions  were 
known  to  Mr.  Stone,  and  those  professed  by  him  were  in  unison  with 
them;  under  these  professions  he  was  chosen  a  Senator.  No  circum- 
stance has  since  occurred  to  alter  the  opinions  of  the  people  of  this  State 
or  of  that  body  by  whom  he  was  chosen ;  no  circumstance  could  occur 
which  would  authorize  a  change  of  these  opinions  so  long  as  we  value 
our  national  character  and  desire  that  the  peace  which  we  so  ardently 
wish  for  may  be  obtained  without  disgrace ;  yet  we  find  that,  for  reasons 
which  he  has  thought  proper  to  withhold  from  the  people  of  this  State,  the 
conduct  of  Mr.  Stone  has  been  directly  in  opposition  to  his  professions ; 
and  we  are  forced  to  believe  that  he  avowed  principles  which  he  did  not 
possess,  or  that  he  without  cause  changed  the  course  of  his  political  con- 
duct, whereby  he  has,  as  far  as  his  voice  or  his  example  could  extend, 
jeopardized  the  safety  and  interests  of  his  country.  Justice  demands  that 
those  who  are  fighting  our  battles  should  receive  the  support  confiding  in 
which  they  enlisted  under  our  banners.  Honor  forbids  the  adoption  of 
any  measure  by  which  our  national  character  may  be  tarnished,  and 
policy  dictates  a  vigorous  prosecution  of  the  war,  by  which  we  may  obtain 
an  early  and  an  honorable  termination  of  it. 

"Resolved,  therefore.  That  the  said  David  Stone  hath  disappointed  the 
reasonable  expectations  and  incurred  the  disapprobation  of  this  General 
Assembly." 

The  above  resolutions  were  duly  adopted  by  a  small  majority; 
but  many  of  the  leading  members  of  the  General  Assembly 
joined  in  demanding  that  their  formal  protest  against  such  cen- 
sure should  be  entered  on  the  journals  of  the  two  Houses.  The 
protests  will  be  found  in  the  Senate  Journal  of  December  25th, 
and  in  the  House  Journal  of  the  same  date.  Among  the  fourteen 
Senators  protesting  we  find  the  well-known  names  of  Archibald 
D.  Murphey  of  Orange,  Robert  Williams  of  Pitt,  John  Hinton  of 
Wake,  Archibald  McBryde  of  Moore,  and  Barnabas  McKinne, 


426  NORTH  CAROLINA 

Jr.,  of  Wayne.  Attached  to  the  protest  entered  on  the  House 
Journal  we  find  the  signatures  of  John  Stanly,  Duncan  Cameron, 
James  Iredell,  Maurice  Moore,  Paul  Barringer,  William  Boylan, 
John  Steele,  Jesse  A.  Pearson,  and  thirty-four  others — forty-two 
in  all. 

It  will  be  observed  that  the  above  vote  of  censure  does  not 
specify  the  actions  of  Senator  Stone  for  which  he  was  so  strongly 
assailed.  A  series  of  resolutions  in  the  House  of  Commons  on 
the  23d  of  November,  1813  (the  consideration  of  which  was  in- 
definitely postponed),  had  contained  the  following  specifications 
against  him :  that  he  "did,  for  reasons  best  known  to  himself,  but 
in  opposition  to  the  true  and  obvious  interest  and  policy  of  the 
United  States,  and  contrary  to  the  wishes  and  expectations  of  the 
good  people  of  this  State,  vote  against  a  law  imposing  a  direct 
tax  on  the  people  of  the  United  States  in  order  to  support  the 
war;  against  the  act  laying  an  embargo  to  restrain  and  prohibit 
the  illicit  intercourse  and  correspondence  kept  up  in  time  of  war 
by  the  British  Tories  of  our  country  with  the  cruel  and  savage 
enemy  hovering  on  our  seacoast  and  feeding  them  from  our  har- 
bors and  shores ;  against  the  appointment  by  the  President  of  the 
Honorable  Albert  Gallatin  as  Ambassador  to  the  Court  of  Russia." 

The  slight  majority  in  the  Assembly  against  his  course  per- 
haps determined  Senator  Stone  to  await  the  verdict  of  a  new  As- 
sembly, and  he  withheld  his  resignation  until  the  meeting  of  the 
next  session.  A  year  later,  November  21,  1814,  he  tendered  his 
resignation,  and  his  letter  to  Governor  Hawkins  was  laid  before 
the  House  of  Commons  December  5,  1814.  The  full  document 
will  be  found  in  the  Journal  of  that  body.  Among  other  things, 
Senator  Stone  said  that  when  first  solicited  by  members  of  the 
Legislature  to  become  a  candidate  he  had  answered  that,  while 
he  should  feel  honored  by  the  choice,  he  did  not  desire  the  office, 
but  would  serve  a  session  or  two  if  chosen ;  that  he  could  not 
promise  them  to  serve  longer,  as  his  family  and  domestic  concerns 
required  his  personal  attention.    He  then  continues : 

"It  is  true  I  hoped  to  be  able  to  attend  till  I  could  hail  the  return  of 
peace  to  my  country.     But  a  short  attendance  at  the  summer  session  of 


DAVID  STONE  427 


1813  convinced  me  that  this  was  a  vain  hope.  It  was  not  possible  for  me 
to  think  that  to  wage  the  war,  in  which  we  were  engaged,  by  embargo,  by 
militia  tours  of  duty  for  distant  expeditions,  by  short  enlistments  of  regular 
troops,  by  a  profuse  and,  as  I  verily  believed,  unnecessary  expenditure 
of  public  money,  and  by  sending  our  most  distinguished  citizens  to  trav- 
erse Europe  as  solicitors  for  peace,  could  lead  to  a  speedy  and  honorable 
termination  of  the  war.  Indeed  so  very  strange  did  these  things  ap- 
pear to  me,  as  war  measures,  that  to  my  judgment  it  seemed,  if  the 
enemy  had  dictated  our  course,  he  could  not  well  have  selected  one  that 
would  with  more  certainty,  and  scarcely  with  more  expedition,  conduct 
us  to  a  division  among  ourselves — to  bankruptcy  and,  as  I  feared,  to 
ruin !  Not  being  able,  therefore,  to  approve  nor  to  withstand  the  torrent  by 
which  we  were  urged  forward,  I  determined  neither  to  incur  responsibility 
for  measures  adopted  against  my  judgment  nor  longer  to  engage  myself 
in  the  disagreeable  task  of  opposing  those  legislative  provisions  by  a 
majority  thought  necessary  for  carrying  on  an  arduous  war,  but  to  retire 
to  private  life  and  wait  with  resignation  for  a  more  auspicious  season 
when  the  delirium  of  the  moment  should  pass  away.  On  my  arrival  at 
Raleigh  during  the  last  session  of  the  Legislature,  with  the  intention  to 
resign,  I  found  a  degree  of  excitement  prevailing  in  that  body  which  for-- 
bade  me  placing  in  their  hands  so  important  a  trust  as  that  of  appointing 
a  Senator.  How  this  excitement  had  been  produced  I  neither  knew  nor 
inquired ;  nor  did  I  care  further  than  this,  that  it  was  much  mortification 
to  me  that  the  legislative  council  of  the  State  should  be  so  greatly  agitated 
by  so  senseless  a  clamor.  Much  against  my  wish  I  attended  the  last  ses- 
sion of  Congress.  When  the  embargo  was  again  recommended  by  the 
President,  and  passed  again  by  a  large  majority  of  the  House  of  Repre- 
sentatives, I  as  a  member  of  the  Senate  voted  for  it,  not  because  my 
opinion  of  the  measure  was  in  the  least  altered,  but  because  the  suffering 
it  must  occasion  would  in  a  short  time,  I  hoped,  recall  the  sober  sense 
of  the  nation,  and  we  should  finally  get  rid  of  that  self-destroying  engine. 

The  political   atmosphere  of  our  country  is   so  loaded 

with  clouds  and  threatening  in  its  aspect  that  I  should  certainly  remain 
at  the  post  assigned  me  if  I  conceived  that  by  remaining  I  could  be  of 
any  service,  whatever  sacrifice  it  might  cost  me.  But  my  opinion  and 
views  differ  so  radically  from  those  of  the  persons  who  conduct  the  affairs 
of  the  nation,  and  who  appear  to  be  strongly  supported  by  the  public  senti- 
ment of  the  nation,  and  as  I  am  conscious  I  possess  a  very  fallible  judg- 
ment, but  which,  such  as  it  is,  must  be  my  guide  in  the  performance  of 
my  public  duty,  entirely  independent  of  and  uncontrolled  by  party,  I 
therefore  conclude  it  is  best  for  me  to  withdraw  from  the  scene." 

It  has  been  said  that  after  the  resignation  of  Senator  Stone  he 


428  NORTH  CAROLINA 

never  regained  his  political  popularity.  We  may  also  add  that  he 
never  sought  it.  He  had  learned  by  long  experience  that  political 
honors  did  not  necessarily  carry  happiness  with  them.  He  longed 
to  be  free  from  public  duties.  An  interesting  family  was  grow- 
ing up  about  him,  and  to  these  children  he  now  turned  his 
thoughts.  Had  the  gratification  of  ambition  been  a  source  of  de- 
light to  him,  he  would  have  been  the  happiest  man  in  North  Car- 
olina. He  was  only  forty-eight  years  old  at  the  time  of  his  death. 
In  the  short  space  of  twenty-two  years — from  1790  till  1812 — he 
had  been  seven  times  elected  a  member  of  the  North  Carolina 
House  of  Commons,  once  elected  a  Congressman,  twice  elected 
judge,  twice  elected  governor,  and  twice  elected  United  States 
Senator. 

Governor  Stone  was  married  twice:  first,  on  March  13,  1793, 
to  Hannah  Turner,  a  sister  of  Judge  William  Turner  of  Ten- 
nessee, by  whom  he  had  one  son  and  four  daughters ;  and  second, 
in  June,  1817,  to  Sarah  Dashiell,  who  had  no  children.  The  son 
died  childless ;  but  through  his  daughters  there  are  many  descend- 
ants of  Governor  Stone  now  living. 

The  death  of  Governor  Stone  occurred  in  Wake  County  on  the 
7th  of  October,  1818.  That  event  was  recorded  by  the  Raleigh 
Register  in  its  issue  of  October  9th  as  follows : 

"Died.  At  his  seat  on  Neuse  River,  on  Wednesday  morning,  David 
Stone,  Esquire,  a  gentleman  of  great  erudition  and  learning,  who  had  filled 
every  honorable  appointment  which  the  State  could  bestow,  having  presided 
over  it  as  governor,  been  member  of  both  Houses  of  Congress,  had  at  two 
different  periods  a  seat  on  the  bench  of  justice,  and  was  frequently  in 
the  Legislature  of  the  State.  His  residence  was  formerly  in  Bertie  County ; 
but  for  several  years  past  he  has  lived  as  a  private  citizen,  cultivating 
a  valuable  estate  in  this  vicinity.  He  has  left  a  widow,  a  numerous  family, 
and  many  friends  to  deplore  his  loss." 

Governor  Stone's  grave  is  now  in  the  centre  of  a  dense  Wake 
County  wilderness^ — a  place  as  wild  as  when  the  Red  man  had 
no  rival  claimant  to  the  soil.  No  human  habitation  is  near.  Yet 
on  this  spot  once  stood  a  happy  home  surrounded  by  fertile  gar- 
dens and  fruitful  orchards.     To  find  it  one  must  go  east  from 


DAVID   STONE  429 


Raleigh  along  the  county  road,  which  is  an  extension  of  New- 
Bern  Avenue,  take  a  plantation  road  about  a  mile  beyond  Neuse 
River,  and  another  mile  southward  on  this  will  bring  the  visitor 
to  a  point  as  near  the  place  as  a  vehicle  can  go.  Then  walking 
some  hundreds  of  yards  through  a  great  pine  forest,  one  comes 
to— 

"A  grave  in  the  woods  with  grass  o'ergrowti." 

Here  rests  all  that  is  mortal  of  David  Stone,  sometime  Judge, 
Governor  of  North  Carolina,  and  United  States  Senator !  By  him 
are  interred  his  wife  and  one  of  his  children.  No  monument 
marks  the  spot,  but  a  heavy  granite  wall  has  survived  the  ravages 
of  time  and  incloses  the  three  graves.  Nearly  covered  by  leaves 
and  underbrush  are  the  fallen  chimneys  of  his  house.  "The  wind 
passeth  over  it  and  it  is  gone ;  and  the  place  thereof  shall  know  it 
no  more." 

Marshall  De  Lancey  Haywood. 


SAMUEL  McDowell  tate 


O  more  fortunate  environment  for  the  produc- 
tion of  men  of  a  high  type  has  been  found  than 
the  border  tier  of  our  quondam  Slave  States 
furnished  to  the  generation  which  reached  man- 
hood at  the  opening  of  the  Civil  War,  and  no 
heredity  was  more  pronounced  and  vivacious 
than  has  marked  the  Protestant  families  of  North  Ireland,  whether 
of  French,  English,  or  Scotch  extraction. 

The  subject  of  this  sketch  was  born  under  the  conditions  above 
indicated  and  came  of  the  race  we  think  so  highly  favored — his 
ancestry  in  both  lines  being  a  graft  of  French  Protestants  upon 
Scotch-Irish  stock,  that  stock  which  for  two  centuries  past  has 
shown  good  blood  on  sea  and  shore.  Of  it  were  the  men  who 
starved  in  Londonderry  and  who  marched  under  Havelock  to  the 
relief  of  Lucknow.  Its  scions  rowed  up  the  St.  Lawrence  under 
Wolfe,  stormed  King's  Mountain,  and  charged  at  Cowpens.  They 
in  a  large  measure  laid  the  foundation  of  our  civil  greatness  by 
relentless  opposition  to  any  union,  however  faint,  of  Church  and 
State,  and  to  any  constitution  which  savored  at  all  of  a  monar- 
chical cast. 

Samuel  McDowell  Tate,  eldest  son  and  child  of  David  and 
Susan  M.  Tate,  was  born  at  Morganton,  in  the  fair  and  noble 
County  of  Burke,  on  the  8th  day  of  September,  1830.  He  was  de- 
nied a  classical  education,  not,  as  in  so  many  other  cases,  for  want 


G/fafJi  Vcbtyi^'W/"--'    Pn-i^/trAi 


SAMUEL  McDowell  tate  431 

of  means,  but  rather  in  consequence  of  the  death  of  his  father 
during  the  early  youth  of  the  son,  who  thenceforth  became  the 
chief  care  of  his  widowed  mother  and  the  object  of  her  anxious 
solicitude. 

But  no  want  of  Latin  and  Greek  has  ever  held  back  such  talent 
as  kind  Nature  bestows  upon  men  of  his  mould,  and  in  the  gram- 
mar schools  of  his  native  State  and  of  Pennsylvania,  the  State 
of  his  mother's  people,  he  laid  the  foundation  of  an  excellent  edu- 
cation, which  stood  him  well  in  hand  in  many  a  contest  with  pen 
and  tongue.  Colonel  Tate  was  a  ready  writer  of  graceful  and 
exact  English,  a  sensible,  cogent  talker  at  all  times,  and  upon 
occasions  a  pathetic  and  persuasive  speaker.  He  read  but  few 
books,  those  however  always  good  ones;  but  of  newspapers  and 
reviews  he  was  a  voracious  gleaner. 

Before  the  age  of  the  commercial  traveler  he  saw  the  need  of 
that  class  in  business,  and  he  lived  some  years  in  Philadelphia, 
fitting  himself  for  the  life  of  a  merchant  in  the  best  sense  of  that 
badly  abused  word.  He  returned  to  North  Carolina  in  the  early 
fifties  and  soon  took  the  leading  trade  of  the  rich  slaveholders  of 
Burke  and  her  tributary  covintry. 

Attacked  by  the  Western  fever  which  comes  at  some  time  of 
life  to  most  of  the  adventurous  men  of  the  Atlantic  slope,  he 
sought  a  taste  of  Texas  experience  and  journeyed  on  pony  express 
through  the  greater  part  of  that  State  in  the  years  1855-56,  in- 
vesting in  real  estate,  much  of  which  his  heirs  retain. 

When  the  late  Colonel  Charles  F.  Fisher,  of  patriot  memory, 
contracted  to  build  the  first  section  of  the  Western  North  Caro- 
lina Railroad  from  Salisbury  to  Morganton,  Tate  took  service 
under  him  and  as  agent  managed  his  large  and  varied  financial 
interests. 

A  Democrat  and  strongly  partisan,  he  attended  the  Convention 
at  Charleston,  and  later  attended  all  the  Conventions  of  his  party 
save  only  that  one  which  in  1872  nominated  Horace  Greeley  for 
the  Presidency.  His  sympathies  were  ardently  Southern,  and 
during  the  momentous  year  of  i860  he  was  greatly  interested  in 
all  the  political  movements.     Although  much  engrossed  in  rail- 


432  NORTH  CAROLINA 

road  work,  when  President  Lincoln  called  on  North  Carolina  to 
furnish  her  quota  of  troops  to  coerce  the  seceded  States,  and 
Union  Whigs  and  Secession  Democrats  vied  with  each  other  in 
rushing  to  the  defence  of  their  State,  he  abandoned  his  employ- 
ment and  answered  the  call  to  arms. 

While  in  April  and  the  early  days  of  May,  without  waiting  for 
the  State  to  leave  the  Union,  Vance  was  raising  his  "Rough  and 
Ready  Guards"  across  the  mountains,  and  Thomas  Settle  with 
fife  and  drum  was  getting  together  his  company  in  Rockingham, 
and  William  P.  Bynum,  already  appointed  lieutenant-colonel,  was 
organizing  his  Second  Regiment  of  State  troops  at  Raleigh,  Tate 
was  hastily  winding  up  his  business  and  calling  on  his  neighbors 
and  friends  to  form  a  company  to  serve  under  the  command  of 
his  enterprising  chief,  Colonel  Charles  F.  Fisher. 

As  Captain  of  Company  D  of  the  Sixth  Regiment  he  served  in 
the  Shenandoah  Valley  in  Virginia,  and  on  the  morning  of  the 
2 1st  of  July  the  regiment  reached  Manassas  Junction  just  in 
time  to  render  most  important  service.  Disembarking  and  hear- 
ing the  boom  of  distant  cannon,  they  marched  directly  to  the 
battlefield  and  were  led  to  the  front  of  the  Henry  House,  near 
which  Rickett's  Battery  was  hurling  its  deadly  missiles  into  the 
Confederate  line.  Within  a  few  moments  the  guns  of  that  cele- 
brated battery  were  silenced  and  captured ;  but  in  that  fatal  charge 
Colonel  Fisher  was  killed  and  hundreds  of  others  had  fallen.  It 
was  however  the  turning-point  of  the  contest.  Here  it  was  that 
Bee,  like  Fisher,  fell,  bravely  calling  on  his  men  to  stand  firm 
against  the  heavy  columns  of  the  advancing  enemy,  pointing  down 
the  line  to  General  Jackson  and  saying:  "Look  at  Jackson,  he 
stands  like  a  stone  wall !"— words  that  will  never  die.  But  Kirby 
Smith  then  reached  the  field  with  other  reinforcements,  and  the 
day  was  saved  and  that  stampede  began  which  made  the  battle  of 
Manassas,  the  first  great  battle  of  the  war,  so  memorable  in  our 
annals. 

Colonel  W.  D.  Pender  was  then  appointed  to  succeed  Fisher 
in  the  command  of  the  Sixth  Regiment ;  and  under  him  the  regi- 
ment led  the  advance  in  the  battle  of  Seven  Pines,  behaving  with 


SAMUEL  McDowell  tate  433 

such  gallantry  that  when  the  battle  was  over  President  Davis, 
who  being  on  the  field  had  witnessed  its  movements,  saluting  Col- 
onel Pender  said  to  him :  "General  Pender,  your  commission  as 
brigadier  bears  date  of  to-day ;  I  wish  I  could  give  it  to  you  upon 
this  field."  As  the  Sixth  North  Carolina  had  the  distinction  to 
engage  the  enemy  at  the  first  onset,  so  it  had  the  prouder  one 
of  being  the  last  upon  the  field.  Captain  Tate  served  with  great 
distinction  not  only  in  these  battles,  but  at  Gaines'  Mill  and  in 
other  battles  in  the  front  of  Richmond  and  at  Second  Manassas, 
ending  that  battle  near  the  Henry  House  on  the  very  ground  where 
the  regiment  had  behaved  so  gallantly  at  its  first  baptism  of  blood 
on  the  2ist  of  July,  1861 ;  and  there  Captain  Tate  won  his  pro- 
motion and  became  major  of  his  regiment. 

At  Sharpsburg  his  regiment  added  to  its  fame;  and  after  the 
battle  of  Fredericksburg  it  was  assigned  to  a  North  Carolina  brig- 
ade commanded  by  General  R.  F.  Hoke  and  shared  the  fortunes 
of  that  admirable  commander. 

The  closing  days  of  June,  1863,  found  Major  Tate  and  the 
Sixth  Regiment  at  York,  Pa.,  and  then  hurrying  back  to  Gettys- 
burg they  pressed  the  enemy  so  closely  that  the  Sixth  Regiment 
crossed  bayonets  with  them.  The  next  day,  the  2nd,  was  a  glo- 
rious occasion  in  the  career  of  Colonel  Tate.  Late  in  the  after- 
noon the  Sixth  North  Carolina,  being  then  under  his  command, 
drove  the  enemy  from  East  Cemetery  Hill  and  possessed  them- 
selves of  it.  All  of  the  eye-witnesses  concur  in  stating  that  the 
Sixth  North  Carolina  Regiment,  gallantly  led  by  him,  engaged  in 
a  hand-to-hand  encounter  with  the  enemy  intrenched  behind  the 
wall  on  the  heights,  where  men  were  killed  not  only  by  bayonets 
and  pistol  shots,  but  by  being  clubbed  by  muskets  and  the  ramrods 
of  the  artillerists.  It  was  on  that  field  that  the  lamented  Colonel 
Avery  fell,  and  Major  Tate  became  lieutenant-colonel  of  the  regi- 
ment. 

On  the  7th  of  November,  1863,  at  Rappahannock  Bridge,  Col- 
onel Tate  was  wounded  and  ordered  to  the  rear,  and  at  the  end 
of  the  famous  Valley  Campaign  he  was  very  severely  wounded  on 
the  19th  of  October,  1864,  at  the  battle  of  Cedar  Creek.     The 


434  NORTH  CAROLINA 

Sixth  Regiment  shortly  afterward  reached  the  trenches  in  front 
of  Petersburg,  where  Colonel  Tate  underwent  all  the  fearful  ex- 
periences incident  to  that  siege.  In  the  night  attack  on  Fort 
Steadman,  before  daybreak  on  the  morning  of  March  25th,  1865, 
Colonel  Tate  was  in  command  of  his  regiment,  which  along  with 
the  57th  captured  Fort  Steadman,  and  as  usual  he  rendered  in 
that  desperate  assault  gallant  and  valiant  service.  On  that  occa- 
sion he  was  again  severely  wounded  and  was  sent  home,  where 
he  suffered  greatly.  But  his  resolute  spirit  never  failed  him ;  and 
when  Stoneman's  raiders  in  April,  after  Lee's  surrender,  burst 
through  the  mountains  and  approached  the  Catawba,  Colonel  Tate, 
still  suffering,  with  great  resolution  joined  with  others  in  check- 
ing their  advance. 

In  the  hearts  of  the  men  he  commanded  in  war  he  found  in  times 
of  peace  friendship  and  loyal  support;  and  the  private  soldier  is 
after  all  the  best  judge  of  the  commander. 

The  generation  now  reaching  manhood  can  with  difficulty  pic- 
ture from  all  their  reading  the  state  of  the  country  east  of  Chat- 
tahoochee and  south  of  the  Potomac  River  in  the  spring  and  sum- 
mer of  the  year  A.  D.  1865.  Hopeless  despair  overtook  the  old 
men,  bitterness  and  proud  anguish  possessed  the  women,  a  greed 
surpassing  the  greed  of  Ahab  for  vineyards  characterized  the 
camp-followers  and  commissary  chiefs,  proscriptive  hatred 
burned  in  the  breasts  of  the  native  Unionists,  insolence  and  bar- 
baric display  marked  the  conduct  of  the  freedman,  while  the  pa- 
rolled  soldiers,  alone  of  all,  worked  in  patience  and  with  desperate 
resolution  to  rebuild  the  ruined  homes  of  the  devastated  South- 
land. 

In  that  sad  yet  stirring  era  of  convalescence  from  war's  long 
fever,  ere  yet  the  relapse  of  Reconstruction  had  been  encountered 
and  overcome.  Colonel  Tate  in  his  own  quiet  way  was  as  much  to 
the  front  as  when  mounting  the  stone  wall  on  Cemetery  Hill  at 
Gettysburg  on  the  evening  of  the  2d  of  July.  Scarcely  had  the 
last  Confederate  force  laid  down  its  arms  when  the  stockholders 
of  the  Western  North  Carolina  Railroad,  knowing  his  business 
capacity,  his  ready  tact,  his  sohd  and  well-disciplined  judgment, 


SAMUEL  McDowell  tate  435 

his  rare  management  of  men,  his  economy  and  industry,  selected 
him  for  president  of  their  disorganized,  bankrupt,  and  war-wasted 
corporation.  He  proved  himself  in  that  station  to  possess  a  real 
live  spark  of  the  great  Hamilton's  genius  of  finance.  He  repaired 
the  roadbed  and  rebuilt  bridges;  he  revamped  old  rolling  stock 
and  put  it  to  work;  he  solicited  business  and  infused  the  people 
with  something  of  his  own  energy ;  he  haggled  over  every  shilling 
that  went  out  and  saved  with  judicious  care  the  straggling  few 
that  came  in,  so  that  in  some  way,  unaccountable  to  his  employers, 
who  saw  no  debt  arising  to  account  for  the  result,  he  righted  their 
afifairs  and  enhanced  their  property. 

This  done.  Provisional  Governor  Holden  very  promptly  turned 
him  out  of  office,  and  when  Holden  in  turn  went  out,  with  Worth 
came  back  Tate,  who,  identified  with  the  great  work  from  its 
infancy,  continued  with  it  in  one  capacity  or  another  almost  unin- 
terruptedly to  the  time  when  it  passed  forever  from  the  control  of 
North  Carolina  to  that  of  Northern  capitalists. 

In  all  the  tortuous  history  of  that  great  corporation,  whose 
railway  is  now  so  important  a  link  in  interstate  commerce,  and 
which  is  destined  to  still  higher  planes  of  usefulness  and  noto- 
riety. Colonel  Tate  labored  and  strove  for  its  completion,  and  the 
skillful  and  prudent  seamanship  of  this  quiet  man  at  last  brought 
the  battered  and  badly  buffeted  hulk  safe  to  the  port  of  friendly 
sale  and  final  completion. 

With  wise  foresight  he  early  in  the  Reconstruction  legislation 
advised  his  stockholders  to  consent  to  a  division  of  the  road  and 
the  creation  of  a  new  corporation,  the  Western  Division  of  the 
Western  North  Carolina  Railroad,  which  was  turned  over  to  the 
late  George  W.  Swepson  and  his  associates,  with  the  hope  and 
expectation  that  the  work  on  the  Eastern  Division  could  be  pressed 
forward  the  more  effectively  under  that  arrangement. 

With  the  Eastern  Division,  from  Salisbury  to  the  French  Broad 
River,  Tate  continued  through  that  era  as  the  financial  agent  of 
the  stockholders  and  trustee  for  the  payment  of  debts  already 
contracted,  having  surrendered  his  presidency  to  the  appointee  of 
the  Holden  Board  of  1868. 


436  NORTH  CAROLINA 

The  loss  of  the  State's  credit  in  the  Northern  markets  caused  a 
comparatively  trifling  loan  to  assume  the  proportions  of  a  threat- 
ening mortgage.  For  this  he  was  unjustly  berated  by  a  portion 
of  the  State  press,  and  he  was  foully  aspersed  by  men  who  were 
self-confessed  thieves ;  but  through  it  all  Colonel  Tate  passed  un- 
scathed by  fire,  and  confidence  in  his  integrity  was  not  at  all 
shaken  among  the  people  of  his  State. 

Never  in  any  strict  sense  of  the  term  a  politician,  he  was  sent 
to  the  Legislature  of  1874  from  his  native  county  by  a  majority 
of  400  in  excess  of  any  vote  theretofore  polled  by  his  party.  In 
this  field  of  action  his  usefulness  was  apparent.  Quiet,  thought- 
ful, and  sagacious,  he  wielded  great  power.  With  decided  convic- 
tions, and  a  man  of  force  and  energy,  he  nevertheless  sought  no 
display,  and  his  character  and  bearing  were  free  from  the  element 
of  aggressiveness.  In  the  Legislature  he  became  at  once  and 
easily  chief  in  all  matters  of  practical  legislation.  His  fine  finan- 
cial ability  was  recognized  on  all  sides,  and  the  confidence  and 
esteem  accorded  him  made  him  a  leader.  He  drafted  and  had 
passed  laws  by  which  the  Western  Road  was  saved  to  the  State 
and  its  construction  re-attempted ;  he  put  in  familiar  and  popular 
use  the  lease  and  working  of  the  State's  convict  force  upon  her 
works  of  internal  improvements,  this  same  Western  Road  being 
the  chiefest  of  the  beneficiaries.  He  labored  untiringly  and  with 
great  success  as  chairman  of  the  Finance  Committee  to  provide 
ways  and  means  for  the  enlargement  of  our  leading  charities  and 
the  establishment  of  new  ones ;  he  carried  to  completion  by  most 
dexterous  management  the  legislation  which  founded  and  sus- 
tained through  trying  years  that  noblest  of  all  charities,  the  superb 
Hospital  for  the  Insane  at  his  own  home  in  Morganton. 

So  long  as  that  vast  pile  of  cunningly  woven  brick  shelters  from 
worse  and  acuter  sorrows  its  own  burden  of  stricken  souls  there 
kindly  and  skillfully  ministered  to,  so  long  will  the  services  of 
this  unassuming  man  to  his  State  and  to  his  species  be  remem- 
bered by  the  appreciative  men  of  coming  generations.  His  de- 
scendants need  want  no  fairer  trophy  of  their  ancestor's  capacity 
for  large  and  difficult  undertakings. 


SAMUEL  McDowell  tate  437 

In  1880,  1882  and  1884  he  again  sat  for  Burke  in  the  Lower 
House  of  the  Legislature,  retaining  and  adding  to  his  reputation 
for  sterling  worth  and  remarkable  sagacity,  and  rendering  labori- 
ous and  unselfish  service  to  the  State  of  his  love  and  to  the  party 
in  whose  creed  he  was  reared,  that  party  which  still  bears  strongly 
the  wonderful  impress  of  the  mind  of  Jefferson. 

Closely  associated  with  Colonel  William  L.  Saunders,  the  faith- 
ful mentor  of  the  Democratic  Party,  allied  with  Colonel  Hamilton 
C.  Jones  and  the  other  brave  and  manly  spirits  who  had  served 
with  him  during  the  war,  and  possessing  the  ample  confidence  of 
the  conductors  of  the  State  press,  Colonel  Tate  was  an  important 
factor  in  every  public  matter  of  import  during  the  period  of  his 
career. 

In  1886,  there  being  a  Democratic  President,  Controller  of  the 
Currency  Trenholm  tendered  Colonel  Tate,  without  solicitation  on 
his  part,  the  position  of  examiner  of  National  Banks  in  the  dis- 
trict stretching  from  West  Virginia  to  and  inclusive  of  Florida. 
It  was  a  most  worthy  compliment  worthily  bestowed,  and,  save 
the  position  of  census-taker  for  his  native  county  in  1850  and  of 
postmaster  at  Morganton  during  the  Buchanan  administration,  it 
was  the  only  Federal  position  ever  held  by  him ;  and  in  the  dis- 
charge of  his  duties  he  proved  a  most  efficient  officer,  taking  rank 
at  the  department,  because  of  his  capacity,  integrity,  and  thorough- 
ness, as  one  of  the  most  excellent  of  all  the  agents  of  the  Gov- 
ernment. 

In  person  Colonel  Tate  was  of  medium  height,  with  a  frame 
sinewy  and  adapted  to  long  fatigue,  a  carriage  dignified  without 
being  haughty,  an  address  most  charming  when  he  chose  to  please, 
but  in  general  undemonstrative  and  in  keeping  with  his  habitual 
taciturnity  and  reserve.  His  public  business  was  transacted  with- 
out a  ripple  of  excitement,  but  he  probed  every  detail  and  was 
always  master  of  the  subject  on  which  he  was  engaged.  His 
home-life  was  in  harmony  with  his  character.  Quietly  he  pur- 
sued the  even  tenor  of  his  temperate  way,  esteemed  by  his  neigh- 
bors, respected  by  his  party,  and  conspicuous  among  that  band 
of  devoted  men  who  in  war  and  peace  have  upheld  the  modest, 


438  NORTH  CAROLINA 

upright,  conservative,  liberty-loving,  tyrant-hating  character  of 
our  dear  mother.  North  Carolina;  a  manly  man,  thoughtful  of 
those  about  him  and  enjoying  to  the  fullest  the  affection  and  re- 
gard for  those  at  his  fireside. 

Prudent  in  his  financial  operations,  he  amassed  a  competent 
estate  and  erected  an  elegant  home  in  the  midst  of  a  community 
long  distinguished  for  culture  and  the  kindred  graces  of  polite 
life,  and  here  he  found  his  greatest  enjoyment. 

Colonel  Tate  married  in  October,  1866,  Miss  Jennie  Pearson, 
daughter  of  the  late  Robert  C.  Pearson  of  Morganton,  by  whom 
he  became  the  father  of  a  large  family  of  children,  and  who  sur- 
vived him  but  a  few  short  years.  She  was  a  veritable  pillar  in 
church  and  society.  Both  were  members  of  the  Presbyterian 
Communion,  were  charitable  in  act  as  well  as  thought,  and  were 
animated  by  a  spirit  of  true  benevolence. 

On  the  death  of  treasurer  Donald  Bain  in  1893,  Governor 
Holt,  who  was  his  life-long  friend,  appointed  Colonel  Tate  State 
treasurer,  and  the  appointment  gave  great  satisfaction  to  the 
people  of  the  State.  He  was  nominated  in  1894  to  succeed  him- 
self, but  he  was  defeated  in  the  Populist  upheaval  of  that  year, 
along  with  all  the  leaders  of  his  party.  His  administration  of 
the  treasury  department  was  conceded  to  have  been  in  all  re- 
spects admirable,  and  he  again  displayed  his  fine  talents  and 
abilities  as  the  most  competent  financier  of  that  period  of  our 
history. 

He  never  afterwards  held  office,  but  devoted  his  declining 
years  to  the  welfare  of  his  family  and  friends  and  in  rendering 
such  public  service  as  was  interesting  to  his  community.  With 
his  townspeople  he  was  very  popular  and  he  delighted  in  being 
useful  to  them,  and  in  particular  he  derived  much  satisfaction 
from  his  success  in  securing  the  location  of  the  Deaf  and  Dumb 
School  at  Morganton. 

He  died  suddenly  at  his  home  on  June  25,  1897,  just  as  he 
was  about  to  entertain  Judge  Robinson,  then  holding  court  in 
Morganton,  and  some  members  of  the  bar  who  were  invited  to 
take  tea  with  him.     His  funeral  the  Sunday  following  was  by 


SAMUEL  McDowell  tate 


439 


far  the  largest  ever  known  in  the  county,  all  the  countryside  at- 
tending with  many  from  a  great  distance.  He  sleeps  in  the 
town  cemetery,  which  was  purchased  through  his  agency  and 
which  commands  one  of  the  loveliest  views  in  the  State ;  the  fit- 
ting repose  of  one  of  the  most  admirable  men  of  his  community 
and  one  of  the  best  and  truest  of  all  the  sons  whom  Burke  County, 
fruitful  in  brains  and  courage,  has  ever  given  to  the  State,  no 
less  efficient  and  excellent  in  peace  than  in  war. 

W.  S.  Pearson. 


ALBION  WINEGAR  TOURGEE 


LBION  WINEGAR  TOURGEE  was  born  in 
Williamsfield,  Ashtabula  County,  Ohio,  May 
2,  1838.  He  was  a  son  of  Valentine  and  Louise 
Winegar  Tourgee.  His  boyhood  was  spent  on 
his  father's  farm  until  about  1846,  when  the 
family  removed  to  Kingsville,  Ohio,  where  he 
entered  the  academy.  He  matriculated  at  the  University  of 
Rochester  in  1859,  enlisted  as  a  private  in  the  Twenty-seventh 
New  York  Volunteers  in  April,  1861,  and  was  seriously  wounded 
at  Bull  Run.  In  consequence  of  this  wound  he  was  discharged 
from  the  army  and  reentered  Rochester,  where  he  was  graduated 
with  the  degree  of  A.B.  in  1862.  In  the  Fall  of  1862  he  enlisted 
in  the  105th  Ohio  Volunteers  and  soon  after  was  promoted  to  a 
lieutenancy.  At  Perrysville,  Kentucky,  he  was  slightly  wounded, 
and  was  captured  at  Murfreesboro,  Tennessee,  in  January,  1863. 
He  was  a  prisoner  for  several  months,  at  Atlanta,  Milan,  Salis- 
bury, and  Libby,  and  then  was  exchanged.  He  was  married  May 
14,  1863,  to  Miss  Emma  L.  Kilbourne,  of  Conneaut,  Ohio.  On 
account  of  his  wounds  he  quit  the  service  in  1864.  In  1865,  how- 
ever, he  was  appointed  major  of  a  negro  regiment,  and  was  on 
his  way  to  join  his  command  when  the  war  closed.  He  located 
in  Greensboro,  N'.  C.,  in  1865,  where  he  published  the  Union 
Register,  1866-67.  He  was  a  delegate  to  the  loyalist  convention 
in  Philadelphia  in  1866,  and  represented  Guilford  County  in  the 


"^"yofaz!.  iy  £,nai/  SarOt"  '' 


,  /inyt/L^-^ 


AUTHOR  OF    "A    FOOL'S   ERRANT'"  8<c' 


ALBION   WINEGAR   TOURGEE  441 

Constitutional  Conventions  of  1868  and  1875.  He  was  Superior 
Court  Judge  of  the  Seventh  judicial  district  from  1868  to  1875. 
After  his  term  as  judge  expired  he  removed  to  Raleigh  and  was 
pension  agent  there  until  1880.  In  1881  he  took  up  his  residence 
in  New  York  and  began  the  publication  of  The  Continent,  a 
magazine.  The  next  year,  however,  he  moved  it  to  Philadelphia, 
where,  after  lingering  for  three  years  longer,  it  expired.  Subse- 
quently he  made  his  home  in  Mayville,  N.  Y.,  and  while  there 
became  Professor  of  Legal  Ethics  in  the  Buffalo  Law  School.  He 
had  the  degree  of  LL.D.  conferred  upon  him  by  Rochester  in 
1880  and  by  Copenhagen  in  1883.  In  1897  he  was  made  Consul 
at  Bordeaux,  and  died  at  that  place  May  21,  1905. 

This  epitome  of  the  life  of  a  remarkable  man  is  to  be  found 
in  the  current  biographical  dictionaries.  For  a  work  like  this  it 
is  only  a  section  of  his  life  that  can  have  any  importance,  that 
passed  in  North  Carolina.  It  is  the  carpetbagger,  the  politician, 
the  lawyer,  the  judge,  only,  who  has  any  part  in  North  Carolina 
history.  A  list  of  his  works  will  be  found  at  the  end  of  this  sketch. 

Immediately  after  the  war  the  white  men  of  North  Carolina 
hoped  to  establish  the  industrial  and  material  prosperity  of  that 
State  with  the  aid  of  Northern  capital  and  Northern  immigrants. 
There  were  very,  very  many  waste  places  to  be  built  up.  Among 
themselves  there  was  little  capital.  Their  young  men  could  work 
and  wanted  to  work.  Among  them  there  was  indeed  a  cheerful, 
if  not  joyous,  acceptance  of  any  work,  however  rough,  however 
discordant  with  their  antecedents.  Each  new  immigrant,  then, 
who  came  with  money  was  bringing  to  them  new  and  better 
opportunities,  and  he  was  welcomed,  if  not  with  warmth,  cer- 
tainly with  hospitality.  But  this  newcomer  must  remember, 
and  must  respect,  the  prejudices  of  the  people  among  whom  he 
located.  Now  these  people  believed  that  since  Ham  no 
human  legislation  could  bring  about  a  state  of  equality 
between  the  white  and  the  black  races.  This  belief  was  more 
than  a  prejudice,  it  was  a  passion.  It  was  more  than  a 
theory,  it  was  a  creed,  their  faith  in  which  was  as  strong  as  their 
confidence  in  Holy  Writ.     He,  this  newcomer  from  the  North, 


442  NORTH  CAROLINA 

must  not  advocate  equal  suffrage  for  the  negro.  He  must  not  use 
that  suffrage  as  a  means  to  advance  his  own  political  fortunes.  He 
might  be  considerate  and  kind  to  the  negro,  but  he  must  not  meet 
him  on  a  social  plane  different  from  that  with  which  they  met  him. 
He  might  establish  churches  and  schools  for  him,  but  he  must  not 
worship  with  him  in  the  former,  nor  provide  teachers  for  the  latter 
who  taught  and  practised  social  equality.  It  was  not  that  the 
negro  was  taught,  but  what  was  taught  him,  that  provoked  the 
whites. 

Mr.  Tourgee  was  a  young  man  when  he  took  up  his  residence 
among  us — only  twenty-seven  years  of  age.  In  his  veins  flowed 
the  blood  of  the  Canadian  Voyageur  and  the  New  England 
Puritan.  To  the  former  he  owed  the  vividness  of  his  imagination 
and  the  force  and  energy  of  his  language,  to  the  latter  his  in- 
domitableness  and  calm,  cautious  courage.  Something  indeed  of 
the  sternness  of  the  Puritan  may  have  remained  a  part  of  his 
character,  but  nothing  of  his  fanaticism  and  little  of  his  faith. 
When  he  located  at  Greensboro  he  had  no  delusions  about  the 
negro.  He  appreciated  his  condition  and  had  some  idea  of  his 
limitations.  He  had  an  intellectual  apprehension  too  of  the  intense 
racial  antipathy  of  the  whites  for  the  negroes,  but  had  no  sym- 
pathy for  it.  To  him  it  was  a  pitiful  weakness  and  not  a  divine 
instinct.  He  seemed  to  have  the  Latin's  toleration  for  miscegena- 
tion. Perhaps  this  was  an  inheritance  from  a  French- Canadian 
ancestry,  perhaps  a  theory,  which  he  would  have  repudiated  in 
practice.  For  this  he  afterwards  classed  himself  "among  the 
Fools,"  "those  who  hoped  that  in  some  inscrutable  way  the  laws 
of  human  nature  should  be  suspended,  or  that  the  state  of  affairs 
at  first  presenting  itself  would  be  but  temporary;"  and  in  doing 
this  he  admitted  that  he  was  not  a  martyr  and  claimed  that  he 
was  not  a  self-seeker. 

He  was  a  man  of  real  culture  and  ability,  having  a  definite  and 
clear  policy,  and  being  determined  to  pursue  that  policy  regardless 
of  consequences.  He  was  not  an  enthusiast ;  there  was  no 
enthusiasm  in  his  nature ;  but  he  was  calculatingly  ambitious,  and 
perfectly  willing  to  use  the  means  which  the  unwisdom  of  Con- 


ALBION   WINEGAR   TOURGEE  443 

gress  had  provided  him  with  to  advance  his  own  personal  interests. 
He  knew  things  and  men,  but  it  was  a  knowledge  of  the  brain, 
and  not  that  deeper  knowledge  of  the  heart.  He  was  one  apart, 
observing  the  springs  of  human  action,  but  wholly  without  sym- 
pathy and  with  only  ill-concealed  contempt.  So  he  had  no  personal 
magnetism,  and  without  this  no  one,  it  makes  no  difference  how 
great  his  mental  endowment  and  equipment  may  have  been,  was 
ever  a  man  of  commanding  force. 

What  Wonder,  then,  that  such  a  man,  with  different  antecedents, 
different  ideals,  different  ambitions,  and  looking  at  public  ques- 
tions from  a  diametrically  opposite  point  of  view,  should  soon  be- 
come the  worst  hated  of  the  foes  of  the  white  man? 

His  first  public  service  in  the  State  was  as  member  of  the 
Constitutional  Convention  of  1868.  A  man  so  ambitious,  so  able, 
so  cultured,  could  not  fail  to  use  an  opportunity  like  this  to  leave 
his  impress  upon  the  fundamental  law  of  the  State.  He  was 
largely  influential  in  securing : 

1.  Equal  civil  and  political  rights  to  the  negroes. 

2.  Abolition  of  all  property  qualifications. 

3.  Election  by  the  people  of  all  officers. 

4.  Penal  reform — the  abolition  of  the  whipping-post,  stocks, 
and  branding. 

5.  Uniform  and  ad-valorem  taxation. 

6.  Provisions  for  an  effective  public  school  system. 

7.  Judicial  reform,  resulting  in  the  Code  of  Civil  Procedure. 
His  persistence,  in  season  and  out  of  season,  in  advocating  the 

first  of  these  objects  has  made  the  people  forget,  to  a  great  degree, 
his  real  service  to  them  in  securing  the  last  six.  As  a  matter  of 
fact,  few  men  have  lived  in  the  State  who  have  conferred  upon  it 
such  lasting  good  as  did  A.  W.  Tourgee  ;  and  yet  he  was  a  partisan 
leader  of  a  motley  hoi-de,  not  many  of  whom  were  blessed  with 
any  sense  of  common  decency  or  common  honesty !  On  all  party 
questions  affecting  the  relations  of  the  races  he  without  scruple 
voted  with  these  people.  He  was  willing  to  put  a  negro  officer 
over  a  white  militia  company.  He  was  willing  to  regiment  white 
and  negro  companies  together.     He  was  willing  to  have  mixed 


444  NORTH  CAROLINA 

schools.  In  short,  as  between  the  negro  and  the  white  man  the 
scales  should  stand  balanced  exactly. 

One  can  scarcely  imagine,  now,  the  intense  bitterness  with 
which  the  large  majority  of  the  best  people  of  the  State  regarded 
the  completed  work  of  this  Convention.  It  did  indeed  place  upon 
them  burdens  grievous  to  be  borne,  the  greatest  of  which  was 
unlimited  negro  suffrage.  They  went  to  work,  however,  and 
sought  to  defeat  it  at  the  polls.  With  an  emasculated  white  elec- 
torate, though,  they  could  do  nothing  against  the  horde  of  negroes 
and  their  white  allies.  In  the  gubernatorial  campaign  of  that 
year  (1868)  nearly  all  the  best  and  purest  and  ablest  men  in  the 
State,  regardless  of  former  party  affiliations,  took  part  in  behalf 
of  Mr.  Thomas  S.  Ashe  and  against  Mr.  W.  W.  Holden — but 
in  vain. 

In  that  election  Mr.  Tourgee  was  elected  judge  of  the  seventh 
judicial  district.  He  came  to  the  bench  absolutely  devoid  of  legal 
experience  or  legal  training.  He  came  to  it  too  with  that  old  idea 
of  his  that  the  white  people  of  the  State,  like  an  unbroken  colt, 
must  be  watched  and  guided  and  controlled,  lest  they  should  kick 
out  of  traces  and  refuse  longer  to  obey  the  bit.  The  truth  is  that, 
though  very  sore  over  recent  events,  they  would  soon  have  been 
content  with  him  as  judge,  had  he  respected  their  traditions, 
realized  that  reforms  were  things  of  slow  growth  and  could  not 
be  forced,  and  that  arbitrary  attempts  on  his  part  to  secure  the 
rights  of  the  negroes  would  only  convince  them  that  he  could  never 
be  an  impartial  judge  for  the  whites.  Instead  of  this,  however, 
at  his  first  court  he  sent  for  the  Chairman  of  the  Board  of  County 
Commissioners  and  asked  him  if  there  had  been  any  negro  jurors 
drawn  for  that  term.  He  told  him  that  there  were  not,  but  simply 
because  there  were  none  in  the  county  fit  for  the  purpose.  Judge 
Tourgee  reprimanded  him  sharply  from  the  bench,  directed  that 
the  old  list  should  be  destroyed,  and  forced  him  in  the  presence 
of  the  court  to  draw  other  names  from  the  box  until  he  had 
secured  enough  negroes  to  satisfy  his  own  sense  of  justice,  and 
then  proceeded  to  try  cases  with  a  jury  thus  selected  by  him- 
self.    This  was  heralded  over  the  district,  and  the  white  people 


ALBION   WINEGAR   TOURGEE  445 

knew,  or  thought  they  knew,  what  they  had  to  expect  from  such 
a  judge.  Besides,  he  offended  against  their  traditions  and  their 
sense  of  propriety  by  taking  part  in  political  meetings,  riding  in 
political  processions,  and  adjourning  court  to  attend  political  con- 
ventions. Once  in  Orange  County  he  left  the  court  on  Tuesday 
to  attend  a  convention,  but  refused  to  discharge  the  Grand  Jury. 
That  body,  at  the  suggestion  of  Mr.  Josiah  Turner,  presented 
him  for  neglect  of  duty.  The  presentment,  in  Mr.  Turner's  hand- 
writing and  characteristic  style,  lay  in  the  court  house  at  Hills- 
boro  for  many  years,  but  has  since  disappeared.  The  result  of 
all  this  was  that  the  white  people  at  large  regarded  Judge  Tourgee 
with  intense  disgust  and  bitterness.  He  was  not  their  judge, 
but  an  alien  placed  over  them  by  their  conquerors.  He  was  a  par- 
tisan on  the  bench,  using  his  opportunities  to  protect  his  own  fol- 
lowers and  to  punish  his  political  foes.  Of  course  much  must 
be  allowed  to  the  virulence  of  party  feeling  at  the  time,  which 
was  exceedingly  bitter ;  still,  makjng  all  due  allowances  ifor 
this,  the  defects  of  his  temperament,  his  character,  and  his  training 
were  such  as  to  make  him  fall  far  short  of  being  a  just  and  up- 
right judge. 

As  I  have  said,  when  first  made  a  judge  he  knew  little  law  and 
little  of  court  procedure.  He  was,  however,  an  able,  ambitious, 
indomitable  man,  so  he  set  to  work  to  make  himself  a  good  law- 
yer. His  habit  was,  as  soon  as  he  reached  a  town  where  he  was 
to  hold  court,  to  require  the  clerk  to  attend  upon  him  with  copies 
of  the  pleadings  in  each  of  the  civil  cases  which  were  to  be  tried. 
Having  great  powers  of  concentration  and  remarkable  quickness 
of  intellect,  he  thus  made  himself  familiar  with  the  points  at 
issue  in  each  case  before  he  entered  the  court  house.  He  in 
consequence  soon  made  himself  an  efficient  judge  in  cases  in  which 
there  was  nothing  in  the  subject  matter  or  the  parties  to  arouse 
his  prejudices.  He  could  never  have  been  more,  for  at  no  time 
during  his  stay  in  the  State  was  he  a  thoroughly  conscientious 
man,  and  it  makes  no  difference  how  brilliant  a  man  may  be,  he 
can  never  make  a  just  and  upright  judge  with  conscientiousness 
lacking. 


446  NORTH  CAROLINA 

Twice  was  Judge  Tourgee's  life  in  serious  danger  from  the 
Ku  Klux.  It  must  be  remembered  that  that  organization  was 
in  itself  a  government,  having  its  own  laws  by  which  its  mem- 
bers were  bound.  Those  laws  prevented,  or  were  intended  to 
prevent,  all  hasty  action.  No  punishment  was  ever  inflicted  by 
the  order  itself  without  calm,  cautious,  deliberate  consideration 
by  the  ablest  and  wisest  members  of  the  body,  particularly  in 
cases  of  life  and  death.  The  great  evil  of  such  an  organization, 
even  when  it  may  be  a  necessary  evil,  is  that,  however  cautious 
it  may  be,  it  can  not  exclude  from  its  membership  many  hot- 
headed, unruly,  whiskey-fired  young  men.  This  element,  being 
more  active,  more  energetic,  more  determined,  and  more  malig- 
nant than  the  older,  more  sober  and  more  cautious  members, 
sometimes,  in  disregard  of  their  own  laws,  took  matters  into 
their  own  hands,  and  in  the  garb  of  the  order  whipped  or  wounded 
where  there  was  little  justification.  In  Orange  County,  for  in- 
stance, only  two  men  were  executed  under  the  orders  of  the  Klan, 
the  barn-burners  in  Bingham  township.  Two  were  shot 
(wounded),  one  hung,  and  quite  a  number  whipped  by  those 
who  had  erupted  from  the  Klan.  In  the  order  itself,  then,  there 
was  this  continual  struggle  between  the  hot-heads  and  the  more 
intelligent  and  cautious  leaders. 

A  company  of  young  men,  members  of  the  Klan  (such  is 
the  tradition),  had  agreed  among  themselves  to  meet  Judge 
Tourgee  on  his  way  from  Pittsboro  to  Hillsboro,  and  just  south 
of  the  latter  place  to  put  him  to  death,  without  saying  any- 
thing at  all  to  the  Chiefs  of  the  Klan.  Of  their  number  was  a 
barkeeper  in  Hillsboro.  He,  while  under  the  influence  of  liquor, 
divulged  the  plan  to  a  young  man  from  Chapel  Hill  on  the  after- 
noon before  the  night  in  which  it  was  to  be  executed.  That  young 
man  on  his  way  home  stopped  at  the  house  of  a  woman  named 
Clark,  who  had  herself  been  disciplined  by  the  Ku  Klux  for  being 
too  intimate  with  negroes,  and  said  enough  to  her  to  let  her  know 
the  fate  of  Judge  Tourgee  should  he  proceed  to  Hillsboro  that 
night.  She  left  immediately  and  took  her  stand  near  the  Chapel 
Hill  road  to  intercept  the  Judge.    She  had  not  long  to  wait  before 


ALBION   WINEGAR   TOURGEE  447 

he  made  his  appearance.  She  stopped  him,  told  him  of  her  sus- 
picions and  fears,  and  induced  him  to  avoid  Hillsboro  and  go  to 
Graham.  Thus  his  Hfe  in  all  human  probability  was  saved.  This 
incident  he  afterwards  idealized  in  his  "Fool's  Errand,"  convert- 
ing the  woman,  Clark,'  into  a  beautiful  young  lady. 

At  a  period  subsequent  to  this,  and  about  the  time  of  the  execu- 
tion of  John  W.  Stephens,  the  Klan  itself  seriously  considered  the 
necessity  for  the  removal  of  Judge  Tourgee.  The  death  sentence 
was  about  to  be  passed  upon  him  when  an  influential  leader  of 
the  Klan,  coming  late,  appeared.  As  soon  as  he  was  informed 
of  the  state  of  affairs  he  interfered,  and  after  much  persuasion 
succeeded  in  having  the  decree  reversed.  After  this  the  carpet- 
bag judge's  life  was' as  safe  as  any  other  man's. 

It  is  said  in  Greensboro  that  Judge  Tourgee  was  exceedingly 
anxious  that  the  attorneys  for  Kirk's  prisoners  should  have  ap- 
plied to  him  for  a  writ  of  habeas  corpus ;  that  he  was  prepared 
not  only  to  issue  it,  but  to  see  that  it  was  executed. 

"Yet,"  says  he,  in  "The  Fool's  Errand,"  "it  was  a  magnificent 
sentiment  that  underlay  it  all — an  unfaltering  determination,  an 
invincible  defiance  to  all  that  had  the  seeming  of  compulsion  or 
tyranny.  One  can  not  but  regard  with  pride  and  sympathy  the 
indomitable  men  who,  being  conquered  in  war,  yet  resisted  every 
effort  of  the  conqueror  to  change  their  laws,  their  customs,  or 
even  the  personnel  of  their  ruling  class;  and  this,  too,  not  only 

with  unyielding  stubborness,  but  with  success 

It  must  be  counted  but  as  the  desperate  effort  of  a  proud,  brave, 
and  determined  people  to  secure  and  hold  what  they  deemed  to 
be  their  rights." 

He  knew  his  life  was  very  seriously  threatened  all  during  the 
Ku  Klux  era,  yet  with  a  calm,  cool,  serene  courage  he  went  about 
his  work,  and  that  too  among  a  people  not  one  of  whom  would 
have  shed  a  tear  at  his  untimely  taking  off,  many  of  whom  would 
have  welcomed  it  as  a  positive  blessing. 

At  the  end  of  his  term,  January  i,  1875,  he  quit  the  office  of 
judge  an  excellent  lawyer,  and  later  practised  in  Greensboro  and 
in  Raleigh  with  some  success.    He  was  in  the  convention  of  1875, 


448  NORTH  CAROLINA 

still  a  partisan  and  the  leader  of  the  Republican  forces.  There 
he  was  simply  an  obstructionist  and  did  nothing  positive.  In  a 
general  way,  it  may  be  said  he  uniformly  opposed  every  altera- 
tion of  the  Constitution  proposed  by  any  member. 

In  1878  his  "Code  with  Notes  and  Decisions"  came  from  the 
press,  and  in  the  following  years  his  "Digest  of  Cited  Cases." 
Each  of  these  was,  in  its  sphere,  an  exceedingly  valuable  contri- 
bution to  the  legal  literature  of  the  State,  though  both  have  since 
been  superseded  by  more  modern  works.  In  his  preface  to  the 
Code  he  with  fine  taste  and  excellent  judgment  ignores  his 
own  prominent  part  in  the  adoption  of  that  system  and  says 
simply : 

"That  there  are  evils  attending  the  abandonment  of  the  old  system  and 
the  adoption  of  the  new.  no  one  can  doubt.  That  the  circumstances  under 
which  it  was  adopted  in  this  State  have  placed  it  under  the  interdict  of 
prejudice  from  the  outset,  every  one  will  admit,  and  it  must  also,  I  think, 
be  admitted  that  even  under  this  great  disadvantage,  it  has  secured  a 
permanent  foothold  not  to  be  disturbed  either  by  legislation  or  con- 
struction." 

It  was  in  1879  that  he  attained  a  world-wide  reputation  by  the 
publication  of  his  novel,  "A  Fool's  Errand."  It  was  published 
anonymously  and  created  immediately  so  great  a  sensation  that  the 
author's  identity  was  not  long  concealed.  At  the  present  time  it 
is  out  of  fashion,  but  the  writer  is  inclined  to  rate  it  as  the  second 
best  of  the  political  novels  which  have  been  published  in  this 
country,  and  he  believes  that  there  will  ere  long  be  such  a  revival 
of  interest  in  it  that  it  will  not  be  permitted  to  die. 

In  1880  Judge  Tourgee  gave  the  people  of  North  Carolina  a 
taste  of  his  quality  as  a  political  satirist  in  the  "C"  letters.  By 
universal  consent  it  is  admitted  that  for  keen  but  polished  satire 
these  letters  were  inimitable.  He  left  the  State  soon  after,  and 
here  we  must  part  with  him  too,  pausing  only  to  quote  David 
Nelson  at  the  grave  of  the  "Fool,"  as  a  fair  estimate  of  his  own 
character : 

"He  was  a  good  man,  according  to  my  notion,  and  an  earnest  one ;  but 
— somehow  it  seemed  as  if  his  ideas  wasn't  calkilated  for  this  meridian." 


ALBION   WINEGAR   TOURGEE  449 

The  following  are  the  chief  publications  of  Judge  Tourgee: 
"Toinette,"  1874,  title  changed  to  "A  Royal  Gentleman"  in  1881 ; 
The  Code  with  Notes  and  Decisions,  1878;  Digest  of  Cited  Cases, 
1879;  "A  Fool's  Errand,"  1879;  "Bricks  Without  Straw,"  1881 ; 
"John  Eax,"  1881 ;  "Hot  Plowshares,"  1883;  "An  Appeal  to 
Caesar,"  1884;  "A  Man  of  Destiny,"  1885;  "Black  Ice,"  1885; 
"Bulton's  Inn,"  1886;  "Letters  to  a  King,"  1886;  "The  Veteran 
and  His  Pipe,"  1887;  "Pactolus  Prime,"  1888;  "Murvale  East- 
man," 1889;  "With  Gauge  and  Swallow,"  1891 ;  "An  Outing  with 
the  Queen  of  Hearts,"  1892;  "A  Son  of  Old  Harry,"  1892;  "Out 
of  the  Sunset  Sea,"  1893 ;  "The  Mortgage  on  the  Hiproof  House," 
1896;  "The  Story  of  a  Thousand,"  1895;  "The  War  of  the 
Standards,"  1896.  Frank  Nash. 


JOHN   URMSTONE 

"As  there  are  certain  mountebanks  and  quacks  in  physick,  so  there  are 
much  the  same  also  in  divinity." 


'  O  declares  an  old  English  theologian,  and  well 
proved  is  his  assertion  by  the  wild  career  in 
Colonial  days  of  a  worthy  who  signed  himself 
"John  Urmstone,  Missionary."  And  some- 
times the  final  "e"  was  dropped  from  the  name. 
Of  this  individual  Bishop  Cheshire  says :  "He 
did  more  Farm  to  the  cause  of  the  Church  in  North  Carolina  than 
any  other  man  who  has  ever  figured  in  our  history,  and  it  is  ut- 
terly incredible  that  he  should  have  been  allowed  for  ten  years 
to  blast  the  prospects  of  the  Church  in  the  Province  by  his  pres- 


Urmstone  was  an  Englishman,  born  in  Lancashire  about  the 
year  1663,  and  possessed  the  advantages  of  a  college  education. 
He  came  to  North  Carolina  during  the  year  1710  or  early  in  171 1, 
and  soon  found  fault  with  everything  and  everybody. 

At  the  time  of  his  arrival  the  Colony  was  in  a  turmoil.  Some 
five  years  earlier  the  Society  for  the  Propagation  of  the  Gospel  in 
Foreign  Parts  had  sent  over  some  missionaries,  and  their  coming 
was  followed  by  a  troublous  time  of  political  and  religious  com- 
motion and  of  resolute  struggle  between  the  contending  factions, 
during  which  Glover  and  his  Council,  being  adherents  of  the 


JOHN  URMSTONE  451 

aggressive  Church  party,  fled  to  Virginia.  One  of  these  mission- 
aries was  Reverend  John  Adams,  who  was  settled  in  Pasquotank 
and  Currituck,  and  whose  ministrations  for  two  years  and  a  half 
were  highly  valued  by  his  flock;  but  in  August,  1708,  he  felt 
forced  to  abandon  his  work  and  took  his  departure,  and  his  vestry 
applied  to  the  Society  to  send  over  a  successor  to  him ;  and  thus 
it  was  that  Urmstone  came  to  North  Carolina. 

The  accounts  given  by  these  missionaries  of  affairs  in  the  Col- 
ony, while  always  challenging  a  judicious  scrutiny,  throw  much 
light  on  the  existing  conditions. 

On  leaving,  Mr.  Adams  wrote : 

"I  have  lived  here  in  a  dismal  country  about  two  years  and  a  half, 
where  I  have  suffered  a  world  of  misery  and  trouble  both  in  body  and 
mind;  I  have  gone  through  good  report  and  evil  report  and  endured  as 
much  as  any  of  your  missionaries  have  done  before  me;  and  whoever 
succeeds  me  will  have  this  advantage,  that  none  of  the  country  will  be 
prejudiced  to  his  person  (as  all  who  adhered  to  the  Quakers  are  to 
mine)  ;  and  this  in  my  opinion  will  conduce  not  a  little  to  the  success  of 
his  labors." 

Mr.  Urmstone  says  of  the  people : 

"Men  are  generally  of  all  trades,  and  women  the  like  within  their 
spheres — except  some  who  are  the  posterity  of  old  planters  or  have  been 
very  fortunate  and  have  great  numbers  of  slaves  who  understand  most 
handicrafts.  Men  are  generally  carpenters,  joiners,  wheelwrights,  coop- 
ers, butchers,  tanners,  shoemakers,  tallowchandlers,  watermen,  and  what 
not;  women,  soap-makers,  starch-makers,  dyers,  etc.  He  or  she  that  can't 
do  all  these  things  and  hath  not  slaves  that  can,  over  and  above  all  the 
common  occupations  of  both  sexes,  will  have  but  a  bad  time  on  it,  for 
help  is  not  to  be  had.  At  any  rate,  every  one  having  business  enough  of 
his  own  makes  tradesmen  turn  planters,  and  these  become  tradesmen. 
All  seem  to  live  by  their  own  hands,  of  their  own  produce,  and  what  they 
can  spare  goes  for  foreign  goods." 

In  his  account  of  the  course  of  events  in  the  Colony,  he  says 
that: 

"Colonel  Hyde,  although  called  in  by  all  sides,  after  long  debates,  per- 
sisted in  Mr.  Glover's  opinion  of  not  suffering  the  Quakers  to  be  of  the 
Council  or  have  anything  to  do  with  the  administration.     An  Assembly 


452  NORTH  CAROLINA 

was  called.  With  much  difficulty  we  had  the  majority.  The  Assembly 
was  made  up  of  a  strange  mixture  of  men  of  various  opinions  and  in- 
clinations: a  few  Churchmen,  many  Presbyterians,  Independents,  but 
most  anythingarians — some  out  of  principle,  others  out  of  hopes  of  power 
and  authority  in  the  government,  to  the  end  that  they  might  lord  it  over 
their  neighbors ;  all  conspired  to  act  answerable  to  the  desire  of  the 
President  and  Council.  I  was  at  this  solemn  meeting  a  great  part  of 
the  time  they  sat." 

Urmstone  himself  was  apparently  an  "anythingarian"  outside 
of  his  religious  cloth. 

After  telling  of  his  agricultural  labors  he  complains  also  of 
the  inhabitants,  saying : 

"My  neighbors  seem  to  like  well  my  industry,  but  are  far  from  afford- 
ing me  their  assistance  in  anything.  They  love  to  see  newcomers  put  to 
their  shifts  as  they  themselves  have  been,  and  cannot  endure  to  see  any- 
body live  as  well  as  themselves  without  having  undergone  the  slavish 
part  and  learned  to  live  independent  of  others." 

This  lack  of  hospitality  of  which  the  missionary  so  bitterly 
complained  may  have  been  true  as  to  himself,  but  was  not  the 
case  with  more  desirable  immigrants,  including  reputable  clergy- 
men. In  1712  the  Reverend  Giles  Rainsford,  also  sent  by  the  So- 
ciety, came  to  the  Colony,  and  met  with  a  far  different  reception. 
Governor  Hyde  himself  was  one  of  the  first  to  welcome  Rains- 
ford,  saying:  "Give  me  leave,  sir,  to  give  you  an  invitation  to 
my  house,  where  you  shall  be  most  welcome  as  long  as  ever  you 
please ;  nor  shall  you  have  the  occasion  to  complain  of  the  coun- 
try, as  Mr.  Urmstone  has."  After  the  arrival  of  Rainsford  the 
two  missionaries  divided  the  territory  in  which  they  were  to  labor, 
Urmstone  taking  the  northeastern  shore  of  the  Chowan  River, 
and  Rainsford  the  southeastern  shore.  In  one  of  his  letters  Rains- 
ford said : 

"Since  the  whole  country  is  entitled  to  my  labors,  I  visited  his  shore, 
which  (I  am  sorry  to  say)  has  been  a  long  time  neglected.  Mr.  Urm- 
stone is  lame  and  says  he  cannot  do  now  what  he  formerly  has  done; 
but  this  lazy  distemper  has  seized  him,  by  what  I  hear,  ever  since  his 
coming  to  the  country." 


JOHN  URMSTONE  453 

In  another  letter  Mr.  Rainsford  said  that  Urmstone  had  bought 
a  fine  plantation  on  the  Virginia  border  and  was  living  at  ease, 
though  he  had  exposed  himself  to  popular  contempt  by  his 
"wretched  way  of  begging  and  other  indiscretions."  Speaking  of 
Rainsford,  Urmstone  said : 

"He  is  now  set  down  in  my  parish,  and  saith  when  the  inhabitants 
have  once  heard  him  they'll  forsake  me  and  I  must  be  turned  out.  I  fear 
he  is  of  a  very  contentious  temper." 

Like  the  horseleech's  daughters,  Urmstone's  never-ending  cry 
was  "Give !  Give !" — and  yet  with  sublime  effrontery  he  writes  to 
Governor  Nicholson  at  Boston,  saying:  "Starve  and  dig  I  cannot, 
and  to  beg  I  am  ashamed."  Later  he  defended  himself  against 
some  of  the  charges  against  him  by  telling  the  Society  for  the 
Propagation  of  the  Gospel  that  his  "sacred  character"  in  itself 
was  enough  to  draw  down  on  him  the  contempt  of  a  pack  of 
profligate  and  loose  people  and  zealous  sectarians.  He  also  bit- 
terly complained  that  his  vestry  (which  was  hostile  to  him)  in- 
cluded among  its  members  two  professed  Anabaptists,  three  ve- 
hement Scotch-Presbyterians,  and  one  descendant  of  a  Quaker. 
In  another  letter  he  said  that  one  Anabaptist  who  was  recom- 
mended for  a  vestryman  claimed  to  be  a  physician,  fortune-teller, 
and  conjurer. 

When  Mr.  Rainsford  said  Urmstone  was  guilty  of  "indiscre- 
tions" he  did  not  malign  him.  One  of  these  indiscretions  was 
getting  drunk,  and  the  other  was  profane  swearing.  For  the 
former  offence  a  bill  of  indictment  was  found  against  him  by  the 
grand  jury  of  Chowan  Precinct  in  April,  1720,  Of  Urmstone's 
lamentations  the  Reverend  Francis  L.  Hawks,  in  his  "History  of 
North  Carolina"  (volume  2,  page  351)  says: 

"Every  letter  is  filled  with  complaints  of  his  unparalleled  sufferings, 
and  solemn  assurances  of  the  impending  starvation  of  himself  and  family, 
while  they  generally  wind  up  with  a  pathetic  farewell  to  his  English 
friends  and  a  businesslike  announcement  that  he  had  drawn  certain  bills 
of  exchange  which  he  wished  duly  honored,  not  forgetting  to  add  instruc- 


454  NORTH  CAROLINA 

tions  as  to  the  remittances  in  English  goods,  which  he  assures  his  sad- 
dened countrymen  he  can  sell  at  an  excellent  profit.  Six  times  in  ten 
years  he  assured  them  that  he  expected  himself  and  family  to  be  laid  in 
the  tomb  from  sheer  want  of  food  before  he  could  possibly  hear  from  Eng- 
land ;  and  yet  he  orders  a  variety  of  articles  to  be  sent  which  could  not 
possibly  arrive  until,  upon  his  hypothesis,  the  grave  would  have  hidden 
alike  him  and  his  necessities.  And  yet  this  man,  thus  eternally  starving, 
contrived  to  buy  land  and  negroes  and  stock,  to  hire  white  servants,  to 
procure  tools  and  agricultural  implements,  to  be  the  proprietor  of  horses 
and  boats,  and,  in  short,  appears  to  have  been  the  only  missionary  dur- 
ing the  proprietary  rule  that  ever  acquired  any  property  in  the  country, 
while  from  his  own  letters  we  gather  the  fact  that  he  had  administered 
the  Lord's  Supper  but  twice  in  five  years." 

In  1717  Urmstone  wrote  to  the  Society  for  the  Propagation  of 
the  Gospel  that  if  a  Lord  Proprietor  were  to  come  to  North  Car- 
oHna  he  would  be  looked  upon  as  no  better  than  a  ballad-singer. 
In  another  letter  he  said  it  would  be  better  to  be  curate  of  a  bear- 
garden than  Bishop  of  North  Carolina. 

Urmstone's  wife  died  in  North  Carolina  in  October,  1719.  He 
had  several  children.  When  his  oldest  son  was  approaching 
manhood  he  left  America  and  went  back  to  England,  followed 
by  parental  execrations. 

Unquestionably  the  best  service  done  the  cause  of  religion  in 
North  Carolina  by  Urmstone  was  when  he  left  the  Colony  in 
the  spring  of  172 1.  He  arrived  in  London  the  latter  part  of  the 
following  July.  His  business  affairs  were  left  in  charge  of  Ed- 
ward Moseley. 

Though  the  Colony  of  North  Carolina  was  happily  rid  of  Urm- 
stone, America  was  not.  After  a  short  stay  in  England  he  again 
crossed  the  Atlantic  and  became  rector  of  Christ  Church  in  Phil- 
adelphia. There  the  discords,  controversies,  and  drunkenness  of 
his  career  in  Carolina  were  reenacted.  All  other  efforts  to  rid 
Philadelphia  of  his  presence  being  of  no  avail,  he  was  finally  paid 
to  leave.  He  removed  to  Maryland,  where  his  conduct  was  no 
better ;  and  in  that  Colony  he  was  accidentally  burned  to  death  in 
1 73 1,  while  in  a  state  of  intoxication.  This  we  learn  from  the 
late  Bishop  Perry's  "History  of  the  American  Episcopal  Church." 


JOHN  URMSTONE  455 

So  closes  the  story  of  John  Urmstone,  Missionary.  While  his 
career  in  itself  is  not  one  of  importance,  we  have  given  it  to  show 
that  "all  sorts  and  conditions  of  men"  formed  the  population  of 
our  Colony,  and  that  even  the  Church  was  not  free  from  evil  in- 
fluence. 

"Wherever  God  erects  a  house  of  prayer, 
The  Devil  always  builds  a  chapel  there." 

Marshall  De  Lancey  Hayivood. 


WILLIAM    HAINES  WAKEFIELD 


[O  some  men  the  paths  they  are  to  follow  through 
life  seem  plain  from  childhood.     Others  delib- 
erately choose  their  work  in  later  years.     But 
mere  accident  or  force  of  circumstances  seems 
to  control  the  destinies  of  many.     A  few  are 
strong  enough  and  brave  enough  to  carve  out 
their  fortunes  in  the   face    of    obstacles  and    discouragements, 
and  to  these  comes  the  joy  of  mastery  over  difficulty. 
Goethe  says : 

"For  the  flowering  of  the  best  gifts  circumstances  must  be  pro- 
pitious, but  the  paramount  function  of  the  gifted  is  to  resist  old 
circumstances  and  create  new  ones,  to  break  through  the  surroundings 
and  fences  of  timorous  customs  and  leap  toward  success." 

Circumstances  did  not  seem  propitious  for  making  a  physician 
out  of  Dr.  Wakefield,  but  he  is  to-day  a  physician  and  a  successful 
one. 

He  first  saw  the  light  in  the  town  of  Arkell,  Wellington  County, 
Ontario,  Canada,  on  November  19,  1855.  His  mother  was  Ann 
Hunt  Haines,  of  an  old  English  family  that  made  its  way  to  Can- 
ada about  the  year  1825.  She  was  a  woman  of  great  force  of 
character  and  beautiful  life,  whose  influence  on  the  moral,  intel- 
lectual, and  spiritual  future  of  her  son  was  firmly  stamped.  It  is 
said  that  men  are  usually  like  their  mothers  in  taste,  disposition, 
temperament,  and  character. 


IT'J^  hy  E  e  l4^//-ams  t&Brn  AO^ 


-CU^   ^t^t^^^^^e^^ 


/■SA^S.L.  Pbn  Nhppn'J,  Pub/»!h^r 


WILLIAM  HAINES  WAKEFIELD  457 

The  father  was  descended  from  George  Wakefield,  who  emi-. 
grated  from  England  to  the  Province  of  Canada  about  the  year 
1822.  His  children  and  his  children's  children  continued  to  live 
there  in  happiness  and  contentment  until  Henry  Wakefield,  the 
Doctor's  father,  decided  to  seek  a  milder  climate  in  this  South- 
land, and  settled  near  what  was  then  known  as  New  Garden 
Boarding  School  in  Guilford  County,  North  Carolina. 

In  Canada  he  had  held  the  office  of  Reeve  of  Egremont,  and  was 
a  lieutenant  in  the  Canadian  army.  After  becoming  a  citizen  of 
the  United  States  and  of  North  Carolina,  he  was  loyal  in  his  de- 
votion and  served  for  years  as  an  acceptable  and  honored  magis- 
trate in  Guilford  County.  His  temperament  was  notably  a  judi- 
cial one,  and  he  was  recognized  as  a  man  of  good  judgment, 
strong  natural  ability,  unbending  honesty,  and  kindness  of  heart. 

The  confidence  and  esteem  in  which  he  was  held  might  be 
illustrated  by  many  incidents,  but  one  will  suffice  for  our  purpose. 
Two  neighbors  had  a  misunderstanding  in  regard  to  some  money 
transactions,  and  a  serious  difficulty  arose  between  them.  They 
were  about  to  embark  in  a  suit  at  law  which  would  have  proved 
expensive  and  unsatisfactory  and  which  would  have  continued  for 
years.  Some  one  suggested  that  each  man  should  go  to  Henry 
Wakefield  and  make  a  statement  of  his  case  and  leave  the  decision 
with  him.  To  this  they  agreed,  and  an  immediate  settlement  en- 
tirely satisfactory  to  both  was  the  result. 

Under  the  fostering  care  of  such  parents  the  boyhood  and 
young  manhood  of  Doctor  Wakefield  passed  in  even  tenor  on  the 
farm.  He  always  did  his  part  in  the  field  and  meadow,  in  garden, 
barn,  and  stable,  and  did  it  well.  The  outdoor  life,  the  hard  work, 
the  contact  with  nature  and  the  soil,  were  all  of  direct  benefit  to 
him  in  every  way,  and  the  high  school  course  between  the  plow 
handles  was  most  valuable  training  in  his  case,  as  it  almost  always 
is.  He  was  fond  of  riding,  fishing,  hunting,  and  of  the  other 
sports  a  country  boy  can  have.  The  influence  of  good  books  was 
also  felt  in  early  life,  and  Pilgrim's  Progress  particularly  appealed 
to  him. 

Until  he  was  a  full-grown  man  he  had  few  school  advantages, 


458  NORTH  CAROLINA 

but  he  was  always  thorough  and  accurate  in  what  he  learned.  He 
finished  the  course  at  New  Garden  Boarding  School,  now  Guilford 
College,  and  began  his  business  career  as  a  hardware  merchant 
in  Greensboro  in  the  year  1879. 

From  the  beginning  he  was  successful  and  his  business  pros- 
pered and  grew.  He  seemed  to  have  found  his  life's  work,  but 
fates  decreed  otherwise. 

On  November  23,  1881,  he  was  married  to  Miss  Mary  C. 
Adams.  The  days  went  by  and  finally  their  eldest  child  was  se- 
verely ill.  The  father  watched  tenderly  over  the  bedside,  studied 
the  symptoms,  and  helped  the  little  one  back  to  health  and 
strength.  In  former  days  he  had  wished  to  study  medicine,  but 
the  opportunity  was  denied  him.  Now  the  old  desire  came  back, 
and  he  determined  that  nothing  should  prevent  him  from  carry- 
ing out  the  thought  and  wish  of  those  past  years.  The  decision 
was  made  as  he  sat  by  his  suffering  babe,  and  in  1886  and  1887 
we  find  him  a  student  in  the  Jefferson  Medical  College,  Phila- 
delphia. Later  he  went  to  Louisville,  Kentucky,  where  he  gradu- 
ated with  honors  in  1890  and  immediately  returned  to  North  Caro- 
lina and  began  regular  practice.  Meantime  he  had  continued  to 
direct  the  affairs  of  his  hardware  company,  and  did  not  sever  his 
connection  with  it  until  he  sold  out  in  1893. 

He  is  a  specialist,  confining  his  work  to  the  eye,  ear,  nose,  and 
throat,  and  has  made  for  himself  a  name  and  reputation  through- 
out North  Carolina  and  adjoining  States.  In  1897  he  went  to 
New  York  and  took  a  post-graduate  course  in  order  to  prepare 
himself  thoroughly  for  his  chosen  work  and  to  equip  himself  in 
every  possible  way.  Two  years  later  he  was  chosen  managing 
editor  of  the  Carolina  Medical  Journal,  which  position  he  still 
holds.  Under  his  management  the  Journal  has  continued  to  grow, 
improve,  and  succeed.  He  was  also  Professor  of  eye,  ear,  nose 
and  throat  diseases  in  the  North  Carolina  Medical  College  at 
Charlotte. 

Seven  children  have  been  born  into  the  family,  six  of  whom  are 
now  living  in  the  delightful  home  in  Charlotte,  North  Carolina, 
where  culture,  contentment,  peace  and  happiness  meet  in  blessing. 


WILLIAM   HAINES   WAKEFIELD 


459 


Dr.  Wakefield  is  an  Elder  in  the  Presbyterian  Church,  a  Demo- 
crat in  politics,  and  a  genial,  social,  cultured  gentleman,  interested 
in  every  good  word  and  work,  well  informed  on  all  the  questions 
of  the  day,  and  devoted  to  his  family,  his  friends,  his  city  and  his 
State. 

The  call  back  to  old  mother  earth  has  reached  him,  and  one  of 
his  most  delightful  recreations  is  his  farm  near  Charlotte,  in  which 
he  takes  the  liveliest  interest  and  from  which  he  reaps  not  only  a 
harvest  of  fruit  and  grain,  but  of  joy,  relaxation,  and  happiness. 

It  is  said  that  North  Carolina  people  do  not  write,  but  from  Dr. 
Wakefield's  pen  have  come  a  number  of  notable  articles  on  medi- 
cal subjects  and  an  occasional  item  of  more  general  interest. 

The  life-story  given  thus  briefly,  simply,  and  fairly  is  one  of 
interest  and  encouragement,  and  one  from  which  many  valuable 
lessons  may  be  learned.  North  Carolina's  sons  in  every  field  are 
doing  honor  to  their  mother  State,  but  so  quietly  and  modestly 
are  they  working  out  their  destiny  and  hers  that  we  often  fail  to 
note  their  strength  and  force,  their  vigor  and  beauty  and  power. 

W.  A.  Blair. 


CYRUS  BARKSDALE  WATSON 


.  YRUS  B.  WATSON  was  born  in  what  is  now 
Forsyth  County,  then  Stokes,  near  Kerners- 
ville.  North  Carolina,  on  the  fourteenth  day  of 
January,  1845.  His  father,  John  Watson,  was 
a  grandson  of  Drewry  Watson,  a  native  of 
Scotland,  who  settled  in  Prince  Edward 
County,  Virginia,  about  1740  and  whose  wife  was  a  Barksdale 
of  Halifax,  from  whom  the  subject  of  this  sketch  takes  his  middle 
name.  John  Watson  was  a  solid,  substantial  farmer  noted  for 
his  honesty  and  integrity,  his  wisdom,  intelligence  and  breadth 
of  view.  He  was  a  careful,  conservative,  original,  and  thought- 
ful man,  an  ideal  justice  of  the  peace  of  the  old  school,  and  for 
years  before  the  war  was  chairman  of  the  Wardens'  Court.  He 
was  widely  known  and  esteemed,  and,  in  his  day  and  generation, 
modestly  but  faithfully  did  his  part  in  the  growth  and  develop- 
ment of  this  section  of  North  Carolina. 

Mr.  Watson's  mother  was  a  Folger,  and  her  great-grandfather 
was  a  brother  of  Abia  Folger  of  Nantucket,  the  mother  of  Ben- 
jamin Franklin.  In  her  later  years  her  resemblance  to  FrankHn's 
portraits  was  so  strong  and  striking  as  to  cause  frequent  com- 
ment. She  was  a  woman  of  culture,  refinement,  and  strong  in- 
tellectual force,  and  left  a  marked  influence  not  only  upon  her 
son,  but  upon  the  entire  community  about  her. 

Mr.  Watson's  grandmother  was  a  Wilson,  sister  of  Joseph  Wil- 


^^.  iy^.  ^  VJ^^i-a^Tie  ±^ro.J/^y^ 


CYRUS   BARKSDALE   WATSON  461 

son,  the  famous  Solicitor  of  the  Western  District  of  North  Caro- 
lina, who  was  one  of  the  most  distinguished  lawyers  of  his  day, 
and  who  appeared  before  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  State  in  al- 
most every  case  that  came  up  from  any  of  the  Western  counties. 
As  Honorable  W.  H.  Battle  said  in  his  address  at  the  meeting 
held  in  the  Supreme  Court  Room  in  January,  1870,  after  the  an- 
nouncement of  the  death  of  Judge  Ruffin : 

"The  business  of  the  Court  in  those  days  was  conducted  by  gentlemen 
who  were  called  'The  Bar  of  the  Supreme  Court,'  and  the  practice  was 
confined  to  them  with  almost  as  much  exclusiveness  as  was  formerly  that 
of  the  Court  of  Common  Pleas  in  England  to  the  Sergeants-at-Law.  It 
was  a  rare  instance  that  any  other  member  of  the  profession  ventured  to 
appear  before  the  Court;  for  it  required  no  little  moral  courage  to  do  so. 
The  members  who  then  composed  the  Supreme  Court  Bar  were  regarded 
as  equal,  if  not  superior,  to  the  members  of  such  bars  in  any  other  State 
in  the  Union.  Your  honors  will  at  once  acknowledge  the  justice  of  this 
high  encomium  when  I  recall  the  names  of  William  Gaston,  Thomas 
Ruffin,  Henry  Seawell,  Archibald  Henderson,  Archibald  D.  Murphey, 
Gavin  Hogg,  Moses  Mordecai,  Joseph  Wilson,  and  James  Martin.'' 

From  such  ancestry,  and  with  ideal  home  influences  about  him, 
the  subject  of  this  sketch  spent  his  childhood  days  with  his  one 
brother  and  two  sisters  at  the  neighborhood  school,  on  the  farm, 
and  around  the  home.  He  was  a  strong,  active,  manly,  vigorous 
boy,  full  of  life  and  fun,  and  from  his  earliest  childhood  trained  in 
careful,  steady  work,  so  that  industry  became  a  fixed  habit  and 
the  thought  of  idleness  repulsive.  Fortunately  for  the  boy,  he 
had  access  to  good  books  and  early  learned  to  love  them.  When 
only  a  lad,  history,  biography,  poetry,  and  fiction  were  not  only 
his  delight  and  recreation,  but  they  gave  him  the  taste  for  litera- 
ture and  reading  which  has  marked  his  entire  life.  He  has  from 
boyhood  been  a  close  student  of  Shakespeare  and  other  dramatists 
and  a  lover  of  the  best  fiction.  His  knowledge  of  and  his  love 
for  natural  history  and  geography  are  constant  sources  of  sur- 
prise and  wonder  to  his  friends  and  acquaintances.  At  the  early 
age  of  five  he  began  his  studies  in  the  home  school,  and  at  fif- 
teen he  passed  to  the  Kernersville  High  School,  which  he  left  to 
enter  the  army. 


462  NORTH  CAROLINA 

His  war  record  is  interesting  and  striking.  He  enlisted  in  Com- 
pany K,  Forty-fifth  North  Carolina  Regiment,  organized  in  the 
early  Spring  of  1862  at  Camp  Mangum,  near  Raleigh,  of  which 
Junius  Daniel  was  the  Colonel.  Doctor  J.  M.  Hines  was  the 
Captain  of  Company  K,  and  his  manly  qualities  and  uniform 
kindnesses  Mr.  Watson  has  always  held  in  the  fondest  remem- 
brance. Colonel  Daniel  was  a  graduate  of  West  Point,  and  from 
the  organization  of  the  regiment  until  the  beginning  of  the  seven 
days'  fight  before  Richmond  he  drilled  his  regiment  incessantly, 
and  so  disciplined  them  that  they  became  prepared  to  enter  upon 
that  career  which  brought  to  the  organization  so  much  fame  and 
glory.  Mr.  Watson  has  contributed  to  the  Regimental  Histories 
an  account  of  the  fortunes  of  that  regiment  during  the  war  which 
is  not  only  interesting  but  very  instructive.  He  himself  was 
wounded  in  Maryland,  in  the  Battle  of  the  Wilderness,  and  much 
more  severely  and  seriously  at  Spottsylvania  on  the  19th  of  May. 
We  make  room  for  a  single  quotation  from  his  Regimental 
History : 

"On  the  17th  or  i8th  of  May,  and  after  the  enemy  had  drawn  back  their 
line  into  the  woods,  giving  up  the  entire  field  where  the  conflict  raged 
on  the  I2th,  I  asked  permission  of  Lieutenant  Frank  Erwin,  commanding 
my  company,  to  pass  the  picket-line  and  go  over  into  this  angle  to  make 
observations.  It  was  a  bright  May  day.  There  was  no  fighting  on  any  part 
of  the  line,  and  by  his  permission  I  went.  The  pickets  permitted  me  to 
pass,  and  I  went  over  the  breastworks  to  that  portion  of  the  field  which 
had  been  occupied  by  our  brigade,  and  then  to  the  right  to  the  position 
which  had  been  occupied  by  Ramseur's  brigade.  On  my  arrival  in  this 
angle  I  could  well  see  why  the  enemy  had  withdrawn  their  lines.  The 
stench  was  almost  unbearable.  There  were  dead  artillery  horses  in  con- 
siderable numbers  that  had  been  killed  on  the  loth  and  on  the  early  morn- 
ing of  the  I2th.  Along  these  lines  of  breastworks  where  the  earth  had 
been  excavated  to  the  depth  of  one  or  two  feet  and  thrown  over,  making 
the  breastworks,  I  fotmd  these  trenches  filled  with  water  (for  there  had 
been  much  rain),  and  in  this  water  lay  the  dead  bodies  of  friend  and  foe 
commingled,  in  many  instances  one  lying  across  the  other,  and  in  one  or 
more  instances  I  saw  as  many  as  three  lying  across  one  another.  All 
over  the  field  lay  the  dead  of  both  armies  by  hundreds,  many  of  them  torn 
and  mangled  by  shells,  many  of  the  bodies  swollen  out  of  all  proportion, 
sorhe  with  their  guns   yet  grasped   in  their  hands.     Now   and  then   one 


CYRUS   BARKSDALE   WATSON  463 

could  be  seen  covered  with  a  blanket,  which  had  been  placed  over  him 
after  he  had  fallen. 

"These  bodies  were  decaying.  The  water  was  red,  almost  black  with 
blood.  Offensive  flies  were  everywhere.  The  trees,  saplings,  and  shrubs 
were  torn  and  shattered  beyond  description;  guns,  some  of  them  broken, 
bayonets,  canteens,  and  cartridge  boxes  were  scattered  about,  and  the 
whole  scene  was  such  that  no  pen  can  or  ever  will  describe  it.  I  have 
seen  many  fields  after  severe  conflicts,  but  nowhere  have  I  seen  anything 
half  so  ghastly.  I  returned  to  my  company  and  said  to  old  man  Thomas 
Carroll,  a  private  in  the  company,  who  was  frying  meat  at  the  fire,  'You 
would  have  saved  rations  by  going  with  me,  for  I  will  have  no  more 
appetite  for  a  week.'  On  the  19th  our  corps  marched  in  the  afternoon 
around  the  enemy's  right,  crossed  one  of  the  prongs  of  the  Mattapony 
River,  and  attacked  the  enemy  on  his  right  flank  and  rear.  We  carried 
no  artillery,  and  as  it  happened  that  which  we  hoped  would  be  a  success- 
ful surprise  to  the  enemy  turned  out  to  be  a  desperate  and  unsuccessful 
battle.  We  found  a  large  body  of  troops  coming  up  as  reinforcements 
from  Fredericksburg.  We  attacked  them.  The  engagement  began  per- 
haps two  hours  by  sun  and  lasted  until  in  the  night,  and  under  cover  of 
darkness  our  corps  returned  to  its  former  position.  In  this  engagement  our 
regiment  suffered  severely.  The  colonel  of  our  regiment,  the  brave 
Colonel  Samuel  H.  Boyd,  was  killed  while  leading  a  charge.  My  own 
company  came  out  of  the  fight  with  not  an  officer  or  non-commissioned 
officer.  In  this  last  charge  the  writer  received  a  severe  wound  from  which 
he  has  never  entirely  recovered.  The  next  day  the  armies  commenced 
a  movement  toward  Richmond,  confronting  each  other  and  fighting  almost 
daily,  which  finally  culminated  in  the  great  battle  of  Cold  Harbor,  June 
3d,  in  which  battle  the  enemy  received  awful  punishment  and  our  regi- 
ment again  suffered  severely.  While  this  battle  was  raging,  I  was  lying 
helpless  in  the  Winder  Hospital  at  Richmond,  listening  to  the  roar  of  the 
guns." 

As  soon  as  he  was  able  he  hastened  back  to  the  army  with  his 
arm  in  a  sHng  and  remained  in  service  until  the  end,  indeed  taking 
part  in  the  last  charge  at  Appomattox. 

Of  those  surrendered  by  General  Lee,  5132,  according  to  the 
parole  list,  were  North  Carolinians;  but  those  figures  do  not  in- 
clude all  of  the  North  Carolinians  who  were  at  Appomattox. 
Many  escaped.    Mr.  Watson  says  in  the  Regimental  Histories : 

"Many  oflScers  and  soldiers,  seeing  surrender  impending,  moved  by  dis- 
like to  give  up  the  struggle  or  fear  of  Northern  prisons,  to  which  it  was 


464  NORTH  CAROLINA 

thought  we  would  be  sent,  slipped  through  the  lines  to  evade  surrender, 
and  thus  their  names  do  not  appear  on  the  parole  list.  On  the  morning 
of  the  surrender  at  Appomattox  I  was  with  my  regiment  (Forty-fifth) 
at  the  time  the  last  charge  was  made  by  Grimes's  division,  to  which  it  be- 
longed. At  the  time  I  was  suffering  from  an  old  open  wound.  Thinking 
that  all  prisoners  would  be  marched  back  to  City  Point  and  thence  trans- 
ported to  Northern  prisons,  I  left  the  field  and  started  home,  moving  down 
the  Appomattox,  intending  to  cross  in  the  rear  of  Sheridan's  cavalry  dur- 
ing the  night.  I  was  captured  late  in  the  afternoon,  about  ten  miles  down 
the  river,  and  was  brought  back  to  General  Grant's  camp  with  about  150 
others  caught  in  like  case  offending.  Without  waiting  for  daylight  we 
were  started  early  next  morning  for  City  Point.  Owing  to  the  condition 
of  my  wound,  however,  I  was  left  at  Farmville  for  medical  treatment 
and  was  paroled  there  a  few  days  later.  In  this  way  the  names  of  no  small 
numbers  of  soldiers  (some  of  whom  effected  their  escape),  who  were  with 
their  commands  at  Appomattox,  failed  to  appear  on  the  parole-list." 

On  being  paroled  Mr.  Watson  made  the  best  of  his  way 
through  many  difficulties  to  his  home,  and  soon  began  to  cast 
about  with  the  purpose  of  earning  his  livelihood.  For  a  while  he 
was  employed  as  a  clerk  in  a  store  at  Kernersville ;  but  while  at- 
tempting to  cut  wheat  at  home,  his  old  wounds  broke  his  shoulder 
down  and  gave  him  trouble.  Later,  in  1866,  he  accepted  a  clerk- 
ship in  High  Point.  Here  an  accident  befell  him  which  opened 
the  wound  on  his  right  shoulder,  and  he  now  saw  that  it  was 
necessary  to  abandon  any  vocation  that  required  manual  labor, 
and  that  he  must  seek  a  livelihood  in  some  other  career.  Al- 
though not  well  prepared  for  professional  life,  his  thoughts 
turned  to  the  law,  and  he  was  fortunately  able  to  enter  upon  the 
study  of  that  profession  in  Lexington  under  General  James  Madi- 
son Leach.  He  had  a  resolute  purpose  to  succeed,  and  addressed 
himself  to  his  studies  with  a  determination  to  master  his  profes- 
sion. Indeed,  there  was  a  high  incentive.  Admitted  to  the  bar 
in  June,  1869,  and  at  once  beginning  the  practice  in  Winston,  he 
was  happily  tinited  in  marriage  to  Miss  A.  E.  Henley,  and  their 
union  has  been  blessed  by  an  interesting  family,  five  of  their 
children  having  grown  up  around  them.  From  the  first  Mr. 
Watson  was  successful  in  his  practice.  He  gave  time  and  care 
to  every  case,  and  studied  not  only  the  law,  but  the  methods,  work, 


CYRUS   BARKSDALE   WATSON  465 

and  peculiar  characteristics  of  the  most  distinguished  lawyers 
with  whom  he  came  in  contact.  He  sought  that  which  was  best 
and  strove  to  attain  superior  excellence.  As  a  result  his  practice 
became  very  extended.  Perhaps  no  attorney  has  a  better  reputa- 
tion for  ability  in  examining  witnesses  and  in  forcibly  presenting 
his  case  to  the  jury.  He  has  been  employed  in  many  great  cases 
and  has  always  risen  to  the  height  of  the  occasion.  There  has 
never  been  any  disappointment  in  his  effort.  Where  he  has  not 
achieved  success  he  at  least  deserved  the  victory.  Among  his 
great  speeches  will  long  be  recalled  his  masterly  effort  in  the 
case  of  Gattis  vs.  Kilgo,  at  Oxford,  which  won  for  him  the  highest 
applause.  He  is  a  constant,  thorough,  and  careful  student  of 
human  nature,  and  knows  men,  understands  how  they  think,  what 
they  think,  what  their  mental  processes  are,  and  what  the  men 
themselves  really  are. 

It  has  been  often  said  that  the  State  has  produced  no  greater 
criminal  lawyer;  but  he  early  made  it  a  rule  that  he  would  not, 
under  any  circumstances,  prosecute  a  case  where  capital  punish- 
ment was  the  penalty.  In  many  of  the  great  criminal  trials  he 
has  thus  been  the  leading  lawyer  for  the  defence,  and  by  his  ear- 
nestness, zeal,  and  capacity  he  has  attained  an  eminence  seldom 
achieved  at  the  bar.  His  ideas  of  the  ethics  of  the  profession  are 
high  and  proper,  and  while  he  is  an  antagonist  to  be  feared,  yet 
his  conduct  of  a  cause  is  always  to  be  admired. 

Mr.  Watson's  ancestry  has  been  Democratic  from  the  days  of 
Jefferson,  and  he  himself,  imbued  with  the  most  patriotic  senti- 
ment, has  been  a  devoted  Democrat  throughout  his  career.  Look- 
ing only  to  the  honors  of  his  profession,  he  has  never  sought 
office  or  political  preferment;  but  always  deeply  interested  in 
the  success  of  his  party,  he  has  freely  given  his  services  in  every 
important  campaign.  On  the  hustings  he  is  an  exceedingly  pop- 
ular speaker,  and  he  presents  his  views  not  only  forcibly,  but  in 
such  a  captivating  way  as  to  carry  his  audience  with  him.  In- 
deed it  has  been  the  fortune  of  but  few  to  treat  public  questions 
so  masterfully  in  debate  and  to  find  such  favor  with  the  people. 
In  1882  he  was  elected  to  the  State  Senate,  and  again  in  1892. 


466  NORTH  CAROLINA 

Then  in  mature  manhood,  learned  in  his  profession,  experienced 
in  matters  of  pubHc  interest,  he  made  a  record  that  exceedingly 
gratified  his  friends.  Among  the  important  matters  that  engaged 
his  a"ttention  was  the  necessity  of  constructing  good  roads  in  this 
State,  and  he  led  in  that  movement,  so  that  at  one  of  the  recent 
conferences  it  was  ascribed  to  him  that  he  was  "the  father  of  the 
good  road  movement."  It  is  said  that  he  read  and  studied  the 
road  laws  of  every  State,  and  then  prepared  and  had  passed  the 
road  law  of  Forsyth  County,  which  he  called  "the  Alternative 
System,"  which  has  since  been  adopted  in  many  other  counties. 
In  1893  he  represented  his  county  in  the  House  of  Representa- 
tives. At  that  session  he  originated  the  Anti-Lynch  Law,  which 
is  now  embodied  in  the  State  Code.  He  was  easily  the  leader 
of  the  body  and  served  with  ability  and  renown. 

In  1890  the  Farmers'  Alliance  began  to  play  an  important  role 
in  the  Democratic  Party,  and  as  each  year  passed  it  added  to 
its  strength  in  the  State.  At  length,  in  1892,  its  leaders  sought 
to  draw  the  farming  element  into  a  separate  organization  and 
nominated  Mr.  Exum  for  Governor.  But  their  defection  was 
not  sufficient  to  defeat  the  Democratic  nominee,  Elias  Carr.  Four 
years  later,  although  the  Populists  nominated  Mr.  Guthrie  for 
Governor,  their  leaders  induced  the  Populist  voters  to  vote  for 
Honorable  D.  L.  Russell,  the  Republican  candidate.  The  out- 
look for  Democratic  success  was  now  hopeless,  but  Mr.  Watson 
was  asked  to  lead  the  Democratic  ranks. 

No  one  who  witnessed  the  magnificent  State  Convention  of 
1896  in  the  Academy  of  Music  at  Raleigh  will  ever  forget  it. 
Every  delegate  in  it — and  the  flower  of  the  party  was  there — felt 
that  it  was  a  crisis  in  the  affairs  of  the  party  in  this  State.  Two 
years  before  the  party  had  been  overwhelmingly  defeated  by  a 
fusion  of  the  Republican  and  Populist  Parties.  The  Party  had 
lost  every  representative  in  Congress,  the  Legislature,  and  nearly 
every  county  officer  in  the  State.  It  was  an  hour  of  feverish 
anxiety,  when  personal  differences  were  forgotten  and  personal 
ambitions  were  subordinated  and  when  the  ablest  and  best  leaders 
of  the  party  were  looking  for  the  strongest  man  in  the  State  to 


CYRUS   BARKSDALE   WATSON  467 

lead  in  the  titanic  struggle  ahead.  After  a  thorough  and  most 
careful  canvass  and  analysis  of  the  situation  and  search  for  the 
man  of  the  hour,  Cyrus  B.  Watson  was  unanimously  chosen  for 
the  herculean  task.  No  greater  compliment  was  ever  paid  to  a 
North  Carolinian  by  his  own  people.  When  his  name  was  men- 
tioned to  that  magnificent  assembly  of  splendid  men  the  scene 
beggars  description.  It  surpassed,  if  possible,  the  intense  enthu- 
siasm of  the  great  Convention  of  1876  in  Metropolitan  Hall  when 
Vance  was  called  to  carry  the  standard  of  his  party.  It  was 
worth  all  the  sacrifice  and  hardship  imposed  by  war  and  all  the 
toil  and  self-denial  of  the  intervening  years  to  have  lived  this  one 
hour  in  the  ringing  acclamations  of  that  great  body  of  the  first 
men  of  this  old  commonwealth.  Mr.  Watson  would  have  been 
more  than  human  if  he  could  have  resisted  this  honor,  which  was 
wholly  unsought  and  which  came  to  him  like  a  peal  of  thunder 
from  a  clear  sky.  Burdened  with  the  cares  and  responsibilities  of 
a  busy  professional  life  and  taxed  to  the  utmost  of  his  strength 
by  the  exacting  demands  of  his  extensive  law  practice,  he  forgot 
self  and  with  his  whole  heart  accepted  the  standard  of  his  party 
in  the  darkest  hour  of  its  history,  and  gave  to  his  State  a  service 
akin  to  that  which  he  rendered  with  dauntless  courage  from  '61 
to  '65  on  the  crimsoned  field  of  battle.  He  emerged  from  defeat 
as  he  did  in  1865,  undaunted  and  undismayed,  and  resumed  his 
life's  work  as  quietly  and  as  serenely  as  the  humblest  citizen  in  the 
humblest  walk  of  life. 

Scarcely  less  remarkable  was  the  honor  bestowed  by  his  friends 
in  the  memorable  contest  in  the  General  Assembly  of  1903  for 
United  States  Senator.  Instinctively  and  without  effort  on  his 
part,  sentiment  on  the  part  of  some  of  the  best  men  of  the  party 
had  crystallized  into  a  movement  favoring  his  election  to  the 
United  States  Senate.  It  was  felt  that  in  view  of  his  distin- 
guished service  and  sacrifices  to  his  State,  in  war  and  in  peace, 
he  was  entitled  to  this  high  honor.  It  was  recognized,  too,  that 
there  was  no  man  in  the  party  more  splendidly  equipped  for  this 
exalted  position.  In  the  contest,  lasting  more  than  a  month,  he 
was  again  defeated  by  a  close  vote,  and  again  Mr.  Watson  re- 


468  NORTH  CAROLINA 

turned  to  his  home  carrying  with  him  the  proud  assurance  that 
he  occupied  a  higher  and  more  permanent  place  than  ever  before 
in  the  esteem  of  the  people  of  North  Carolina.  It  may  be  said 
without  exaggeration  that  these  honors  stand  unmatched  in  the 
history  of  North  Carolina  and  give  him  an  abiding  place  on  the 
historic  page  of  the  great  State  he  has  served  with  such  signal 
devotion  and  fidelity. 

Mr.  Watson  has  been  for  years  a  member  of  the  Methodist 
Episcopal  Church  South,  and  is  still  a  careful  student,  constantly 
reading  good  books,  and  is  fully  informed  on  all  the  topics  of  the 
day,  not  only  politics,  but  in  science  and  the  arts  as  well.  He  is 
in  great  demand  as  a  speaker  at  all  public  gatherings,  and  the  old 
soldiers  look  to  him  for  leadership  and  a  touching  address  upon 
all  occasions  when  they  come  together. 

His  integrity  is  known  of  all  men,  his  character,  ability,  and 
standing  are  the  highest,  and  he  has  a  most  charming  personality. 
His  fund  of  good  stories  seems  almost  inexhaustible,  and  it  is  the 
delight  of  his  friends  to  gather  about  him  and  listen  to  his  in- 
teresting anecdotes  that  flow  in  such  boundless  profusion  from 
his  lips.  Almost  his  only  recreation  is  the  game  of  billiards, 
which  he  greatly  enjoys,  and  his  interest  in  his  farm  work,  which 
he  has  never  lost. 

Now  in  the  prime  of  life,  blessed  with  health,  strength,  and 
vigor,  having  a  brilliant  and  well-trained  intellect  and  a  true, 
warm,  and  tender  heart,  he  has  endeared  himself  to  his  fellow- 
men,  earned  the  respect  of  all  who  know  him,  and  richly  deserves 
the  success  he  has  attained. 

W.  A.  Blair. 
S.  A.  Ashe. 


'-wimm 


c. 


C'^j-f  /:.i^&«  i\)%rr- 


MATTHEW    H.  WHITE 


'  BOUT  four  miles  from  the  town  of  Hertford  in 
Perquimans  County  a  farmer,  Stephen  White, 
and  his  wife,  Mary,  whose  maiden  name  was 
Wyatt,  were  living  in  a  humble  home  in  the 
year  1851.  Farming  at  that  period  was  not  a 
very  renumerative  occupation,  but  it  provided 
the  means  of  solid  comfort ;  and  while  no  money  was  accumulated, 
living  was  bountiful  and  life  was  independent,  and  the  careful, 
industrious  husbandman,  although  not  in  the  enjoyment  of  riches, 
had  pleasant  social  relations  even  with  the  most  prosperous  of  his 
neighbors. 

Far  removed  from  the  madding  crowd,  the  placid,  quiet  exist- 
ence of  the  farm  was  particularly  conducive  to  a  religious  life,  and 
the  elevating  practices  of  religion  were  almost  universal.  The 
home-life  of  all,  rich  and  poor  alike,  was  permeated  with  fervid 
religious  sentiment,  and  the  mother  reared  her  children  with 
scrupulous  care  in  her  own  communion.  There  was  no  purer, 
sweeter,  and  more  moral  atmosphere  than  on  the  farms  of  North 
Carolina,  and  in  this  respect  there  were  but  few  regions  that 
equalled  that  known  as  the  Albemarle  section,  where  the  gentle 
faith  of  the  Quakers  had  taken  deep  root  in  the  early  days  of  set- 
tlement and  had  exerted  a  refining  influence  for  many  genera- 
tions. , 
It  was  under  such  circumstances  that  the  early  life  of  Matthew 


470  NORTH  CAROLINA 

H.  White,  the  subject  of  this  sketch,  was  cast.  He  was  the  son 
of  Stephen  and  Mary  White,  and  was  born  on  his  father's  farm  on 
the  5th  day  of  September,  1851.  When  only  three  years  of  age, 
however,  he  had  the  misfortune  to  lose  his  father;  but  nearly 
every  sorrow  has  its  compensations.  By  this  beixavement  he  was 
thrown  more  thoroughly  under  the  particular  care  of  his  mother, 
whose  influence  thus  entered  more  into  the  woof  and  warp  of  his 
life  than  would  otherwise  have  been  the  case. 

Always  active  and  robust,  and  with  a  disposition  to  be  helpful 
to  his  mother,  even  as  a  boy  he  became  greatly  interested  in  the 
work  about  his  home  and  in  accumulating  something  for  his 
mother  and  himself.  Addressing  himself  to  his  daily  tasks  with 
a  vigor  born  of  an  affectionate  and  appreciative  nature,  he  early 
emerged  from  boyhood  into  man's  estate.  One  sees  him  to-day 
a  man  of  large  frame,  well  developed,  and  apparently  the  posses- 
sor of  unusual  physical  strength.  At  sixteen  he  had  attained  a 
robust  and  vigorous  manhood.  One  of  his  employments  at  that 
age  was  cutting  wood  for  sale  on  his  mother's  account.  She  set 
a  task  for  him  of  two  cords  a  day,  and  allowed  him  fifty  cents  per 
cord  for  all  beyond  the  task.  He  usually  cut  four  cords  per  day, 
and  thus  earned  a  dollar  a  day  for  himself.  Thus  occupied  in, 
supplying  something  for  the  support  of  his  mother  and  himself, 
Mr.  White  had  no  great  turn  for  books  and  was  denied  the  benefit 
of  even  such  educational  advantages  as  the  neighboring  town  af- 
forded. But  such  a  man  was  irrepressible.  Notwithstanding  his 
want  of  opportunities,  he  overcame  all  obstacles  and  fitted  himself 
for  a  man's  work  in  life.  On  reaching  his  twenty-first  year  he 
was  able  to  purchase  a  farm  containing  333  acres,  four  miles  from 
Hertford,  for  which  he  paid  down  $500  in  cash  and  agreed  to  pav 
the  balance  of  the  price,  $1,500,  in  six  years.  Now  he  had  a  still 
greater  stimulus  to  exertion,  and  he  applied  himself  with  such 
energy  to  his  work  that  in  three  years  he  had  paid  off  the  last  of 
the  mortgage.  Successful  in  this,  he  afterwards  entered  upon  a 
career  in  which  he  displayed  a  wonderful  insight  into  business. 
Whatever  he  undertook  prospered.  He  made  no  mistakes  and 
his  transactions  were  always  profitable.     His  just  sentiments,  his 


MATTHEW   H.   WHITE  471 

cheerful,  sunny  disposition,  and  the  kindly  feeling  which  beamed 
from  his  pleasant  countenance  seemed  to  be  in  natural  accord  with 
his  success  in  life.  He  engaged  with  excellent  results  in  farming, 
and  particularly  in  raising  and  fattening  stock.  For  horses  he  had 
a  fancy,  and  he  dealt  largely  in  them  and  handled  them'  with  ex- 
ceptional advantage.  He  also  invested  in  lumber  and  in  lands 
for  trading  purposes ;  and  seldom  did  he  make  a  transaction  that 
added  nothing  to  his  bank  account.  Year  by  year  he  amassed 
means  and  his  accumulations  notably  increased,  and  he  was  en- 
abled to  fall  into  that  manner  of  life  which  was  most  inviting  to 
him.  He  has  long  had  a  stock-farm  where  he  raises  fine-blooded 
horses,  and  which  has  an  established  reputation  even  in  distant 
parts  of  the  State.  There  is  no  pleasure  like  that  accompanying 
successful  achievement,  and  Mr.  White  has  enjoyed  the  gratifica- 
tion of  having  his  fine  horses  praised  by  all  at  the  races  and  horse- 
shows  of  the  State  capital  and  other  fairs  and  exhibitions. 

Having  made  his  own  money,  Mr.  White  has  known  how  to  in- 
vest it  to  advantage.  While  careful,  he  is  not  so  conservative  as 
to  keep  always  within  beaten  paths,  but  he  strikes  out  for  him- 
self. He  blazes  his  own  way  in  business  matters.  Thus  he  was 
one  of  the  originators  of  the  Albemarle  Ice  Company,  and  is  the 
president  of  that  company,  whose  operations  have  met  with  grati- 
fying success.  He  was  likewise  one  of  those  who  organized  the 
First  National  Bank  of  Elizabeth  City,  and  has  been  a  director  in 
it  ever  since  it  was  begun.  He  was  also  a  director  in  the  Hert- 
ford Banking  Company,  and  likewise  in  the  Great  Eastern  Life 
Insurance  Company. 

While  not  a  politician,  Mr.  White  is  a  Democrat,  like  most  of 
his  associates,  and  he  has  always  taken  an  interest  in  the  local  af- 
fairs of  his  town  and  county. 

His  religious  affiliations  are  with  the  Methodists,  but  he  is 
broad-minded  and  liberal  in  his  social  intercourse,  and  he  is  one  of 
the  governors  of  the  Hertford  Club,  whose  object  is  to  promote 
the  amenities  of  life  among  the  citizens.  His  relations,  social, 
business,  and  political,  to  his  community  are  thus  seen  to  be  agree- 
able, useful,  and  important.    Whatever  will  tend  to  promote  the 


472  NORTH  CAROLINA 

general  welfare  finds  in  him  a  warm  and  zealous  advocate,  and 
when  he  undertakes  anything  it  generally  is  accomplished.  The 
word  failure  is  not  in  his  vocabulary.  In  every  town  there  is 
usually  some  man  who  stands  foremost  for  public  spirit  and  en- 
terprise, and  Mr.  White  has  earned  the  reputation  of  being  in  this 
respect  the  first  citizen  of  Hertford. 

In  the  month  of  January,  1 87 1,  before  he  was  twenty-one  years 
of  age,  Mr.  White  was  happily  married  to  Miss  Mattie  E.  Perry. 
She  has  borne  him  two  children,  but  neither  now  survives. 

Denied  educational  advantages  in  his  own  youth,  Mr.  White 
has  been  interested  in  helping  others.  For  the  past  twenty  years 
he  has  each  year  aided  five  or  six  deserving  young  people,  girls 
and  boys,  to  obtain  an  education.  He  has  advanced  them  the  neces- 
sary means,  taking  their  notes  without  security.  This  kindness 
on  his  part  has  been  appreciated,  and  with  but  few  exceptions  all 
whom  he  has  helped  in  this  way  have  been  so  successful  in  life 
that  they  have  paid  promptly  the  amounts  lent  them.  At  this  par- 
ticular time  Mr.  White  is  educating  nine  young  people.  This 
aiding  others  has  brought  him  much  gratification.  He  finds  it  a 
real  pleasure  to  observe  the  successful  careers  of  those  whom 
he  has  benefited  in  this  respect.  Mr.  White  has  not  connected 
himself  with  many  societies,  but  is  a  member  of  the  Elks' 
Lodge  856  at  Elizabeth  City.  Not  only  has  he  been  help- 
ful in  assisting  to  promote  business  enterprises,  but  he  has  given 
liberally  to  all  charitable  and  religious  purposes  that  enlist  the 
sympathies  of  his  community. 

Mr.  White  may  well  be  classed  among  the  self-made  men  of  the 
State.  He  has  been  indebted  to  others  but  little  for  the  success 
which  has  attended  him  in  life.  His  fine  character,  sterling  worth, 
and  the  confidence  he  has  inspired  among  his  business  associates 
were  the  foundations  of  his  success.  His  advice  to  young  men  is 
therefore  of  particular  value.  "A  young  man,"  says  he,  "should 
acquire  good  habits,  should  lead  a  life  of  sobriety  and  industry, 
hand  out  a  square  deal  to  everybody,  and  stand  to  his  contracts, 
whether  good  or  bad." 

6".  A.  Ashe. 


Cha.^ I>  f-a^-^V/"-"' 


MARTIN    STEVENSON   WILLARD 


ARTIN  STEVENSON  WILLARD  was  born 
January  17,  1858,  in  Washington,  North  Caro- 
lina. On  December  5,  1883,  he  married  Miss 
Elizabeth  Gettig  Oliver,  daughter  of  William 
H.  Oliver  of  New-Bern. 
His  father,  Mr.  Albert  A.  Willard,  was  de- 
scended through  a  long  line  of  New  England  ancestors  from  a 
number  of  the  most  prominent  and  oldest  families  of  that  section. 
The  elder  Mr.  Willard,  who  was  born  in  Still  River,  Massachu- 
setts, May  19,  1828,  came  to  North  Carolina  in  1845  together  with 
several  brothers  and  engaged  in  a  wholesale  business  in  Wash- 
ington. From  Washington  he  moved  to  Greensboro  in  1861  and 
was  engaged  during  the  war  under  a  commission  from  Governor 
Vance  in  the  manufacture  at  Thomasville  of  shoes  and  other  sup- 
plies for  the  Confederate  Government.  In  1866  he  came  to  Wil- 
mington and  established  the  wholesale  grocery  firm  of  Willard 
Brothers,  which  transacted  for  a  number  of  years  the  largest 
business  of  that  kind  in  the  State.  He  never  held  or  sought  pub- 
lic office  of  any  kind,  but  was  for  more  than  half  a  century  a  Rul- 
ing Elder  in  the  Presbyterian  Church.  He  was  always  distin- 
guished for  his  deep  piety,  his  scrupulous  honesty,  extreme  mod- 
esty, and  for  patience  and  indomitable  perseverance. 

Major  Simon  Willard,  the  first  person  of  the  name  in  this  coun- 
try, landed  in  Massachusetts  in  1636.     He  was  one  of  the  most 


474  NORTH  CAROLINA 

prominent  men  of  his  day  in  New  England  and  commanded  the 
Middlesex  Regiment  of  the  State  of  Massachusetts  in  King  Phil- 
lip's War.  Dr.  George  M.  Bodge,  in  "Soldiers  in  King  Phillip's 
War,"  says  of  Major  Willard  that  "he  was  one  of  the  noblest  in 
the  roster  of  the  grand  old  Puritan  officers."  Among  other  prom- 
inent positions  held  by  Major  Willard  was  that  of  Deputy  to  the 
General  Court  of  Massachusetts  from  1636  to  1654.  From  that 
time  to  this  each  generation  has  been  distinguished  for  capacity 
and  excellence,  and  during  the  War  for  Independence  several  of 
his  descendants  were  officers  in  the  Revolutionary  Army. 

The  maternal  grandmother  of  Martin  S.  Willard  was  Hannah 
Emerson.  She  also  was  descended  from  a  long  line  of  New  Eng- 
land ancestors,  several  generations  in  succession  having  been  Con- 
gregational ministers,  and  among  her  first  cousins  was  the  dis- 
tinguished Ralph  Waldo  Emerson. 

His  mother  was  Mary  Hannis  Stevenson,  daughter  of  Martin 
Stevenson  and  Mary  Taylor  Stevenson  of  New-Bern,  North  Caro- 
lina, and  through  this  side  of  his  family  Mr.  Willard  is  connected 
with  a  number  of  prominent  North  Carolina  families.  Honorable 
Hannis  Taylor  is  a  near  relative,  being  connected  with  Mr.  Wil- 
lard through  both  his  (Mr.  Taylor's)  father  and  mother. 

Mr.  Willard  has  always  been  physically  robust  and  in  boyhood 
took  an  active  part  in  all  school  and  college  sports.  During  late 
years  he  has  been  particularly  interested  in  yachting,  and  his  chief 
relaxation  from  the  cares  of  business  has  been  in  this  attractive 
pastime.  In  his  early  life  Mr.  Willard  received  regular  and  sys- 
tematic training  from  his  father  in  habits  of  industry  and  fru- 
gality. He  cannot  remember  that  he  was  ever  given  outright  one 
dollar  in  money,  but  for  simple  kinds  of  employment  he  was  paid 
fixed  and  liberal  amounts,  which  were  always  entered  in  an  account 
book.  When  money  was  to  be  spent  it  was  always  drawn  from 
this  fund,  and  an  entry  made  what  it  was  spent  for.  The  habits 
inculcated  by  these  methods  have  been  of  wonderful  value  to  him 
in  all  his  after  life.  His  father  kept  him  at  private  schools  in  his 
own  town,  and  for  a  short  time  at  the  Hopkins  Grammar  School  in 
New  Haven,  Connecticut,  where  he  was  prepared  to  enter  Yale 


MARTIN    STEVENSON    WILLARD  475 

College.  The  year  he  would  have  entered  Yale  (1873)  his  father 
unhappily  met  with  business  reverses,  and  he  was  prevented  from 
continuing  his  studies,  and  returned  home  to  take  up  the  active 
pursuit  of  seeking  a  livelihood. 

He  was  first  employed  as  clerk  (1874)  in  the  insurance  office 
of  Colonel  John  Wilder  Atkinson  in  Wilmington,  continuing  with 
him  until  he  became  chief  clerk,  when  he  resigned  his  position 
(1883)  to  commence  business  for  himself.  Shortly  after  enter- 
ing the  insurance  business  he  associated  with  himself  Dr.  Armand 
J.  De  Rosset,  and  this  partnership  continued  for  a  period  of  eight 
years  and  until  Dr.  De  Rosset  on  account  of  failing  health  was 
obliged  to  retire  from  active  business.  In  1887  Mr.  Willard  se- 
cured from  the  Legislature  of  North  Carolina  a  charter  for  the 
Carolina  Insurance  Company,  and  the  company  being  organized 
soon  afterwards,  Mr.  Willard  was  elected  its  Secretary,  and  he 
has  continued  in  this  position  ever  since,  having  the  entire  man- 
agement of  the  company's  afTairs. 

Mr.  Willard  aided  materially  in  the  reorganization  of  the  Wil- 
mington Light  Infantry  and  for  nine  years  was  an  active  member 
of  that  organization,  and  while  first  sergeant  of  that  company  he 
was  appointed  adjutant  of  the  Second  Regiment  N.  C.  S.  G.,  and 
continued  in  that  position  for  several  years.  When  he  retired 
from  active  military  duty  he  was  placed  on  the  Reserve  Corps  of 
the  W.  L.  I.,  and  has  been  a  member  of  that  organization  ever 
since  except  for  the  short  time  of  the  Spanish  War.  During  that 
war  the  company  volunteered  for  active  service  in  the  United 
States  Army,  and  Mr.  Willard,  together  with  a  number  of  other 
Reserve  Corps  members,  took  their  places  and  performed  the  ac- 
tive work  of  keeping  up  the  home  company.  During  this  period 
(November,  1898)  the  political  revolution  in  Wilmington  oc- 
curred, and  Mr.  Willard  took  a  very  active  part  in  quieting  that 
disturbance  and  restoring  his  town  to  the  government  of  its  white 
citizens. 

Among  the  positions  of  responsibility  and  trust  held  by  Mr. 
Willard  are  member  of  the  Board  of  Commissioners  of  Naviga- 
tion and  Pilotage  of  the  port  of  Wilmington,  of  the  Board  of 


476  NORTH  CAROLINA 

Managers  of  the  James  Walker  Memorial  Hospital,  of  the  Board 
of  Managers  of  the  Board  of  Commerce,  and  for  eight  years 
Chairman  for  the  Board  of  Assessors  for  New  Hanover  County. 

Mr.  Willard's  most  conspicuous  public  service  has  been  as  a 
Member  of  the  Legislature  of  North  Carolina,  representing  New 
Hanover  County  in  the  sessions  of  1899  and  1901.  His  election 
with  Mr.  George  Rountree  to  represent  New  Hanover  County  was 
one  of  the  dramatic  incidents  of  the  White  Supremacy  campaign 
of  1898,  and  was  of  such  importance  that  the  great  Metropolitan 
dailies,  which  had  begun  to  look  to  Wilmington  for  startling  new 
items,  gave  considerable  notice  to  it.  The  selection  of  these  two 
gentlemen  was  the  result  of  an  agreement  between  a  committee 
of  business  men  and  Governor  D.  L.  Russell  that  if  the  nominees 
of  the  Democratic  Convention  should  be  withdrawn  and  two  other 
gentlemen  selected  by  the  business  men  of  the  city  substituted,  he 
(Governor  Russell)  would  use  his  influence  to  prevent  the  nom- 
ination of  a  Republican  ticket.  This  course  was  finally  agreed  to, 
although  its  wisdom  was  very  much  doubted  at  the  time  by  some 
of  the  most  prominent  Democratic  leaders.  As  a  result  of  this 
agreement  Messrs.  Willard  and  Rountree  were  selected  by  the 
business  men,  and  these  gentlemen  were  the  only  persons  voted  for 
at  the  November  election  for  Members  of  the  House  of  Represen- 
tatives and  were  therefore  unanimously  elected.  They  were  also 
reelected  to  the  Legislature  of  1901  without  opposition. 

Mr.  Willard's  work  as  a  member  of  the  Legislature  brought  him 
into  great  prominence  all  over  the  State.  The  treasury  of  the 
State  was  almost  depleted,  and  still  there  was  need  for  increased 
appropriations  for  school  purposes,  for  the  charitable  institutions 
of  the  State,  and  for  pensions  to  Confederate  veterans.  The  ne- 
cessity for  more  modern  methods  of  taxation  was  apparent,  and 
to  Mr.  Willard  was  chiefly  assigned  the  duty  of  preparing  a  new 
revenue  bill  which  would  yield  the  necessary  income  to  the  State 
while  not  increasing  the  burden  of  taxation  unnecessarily.  To 
this  duty  he  gave  diligent  and  painstaking  work,  and  the  result  has 
since  been  seen  and  recognized.  While  the  new  revenue  law  at 
first  raised  a  storm  of  protest  from  the  large  corporations  of  the 


MARTIN    STEVENSON    WILLARD  477 

State,  it  has  since  been  admitted  to  be  an  equitable  measure  and  is 
now  working  smoothly;  the  opposition  has  given  place  to  favor- 
able comment  and  the  necessary  revenue  has  been  secured.  The 
new  features  incorporated  in  the  laws  for  the  taxation  of  cor- 
porate interests  have  received  the  outspoken  approval  of  the  lead- 
ing men  in  the  State's  Government,  both  executive  and  judicial, 
while  the  corporations  which  at  first  condemned  the  law  now  admit 
that  it  is  far  more  equitable  than  previous  laws.  While  a  Mem- 
ber of  the  Legislature,  he  was  called  upon  to  explain  through  the 
daily  press  many  sections  of  the  proposed  law,  and  he  did  so  in  a 
number  of  articles  which  were  printed  in  the  papers  published  at 
Raleigh.  He  also  advocated  in  several  extended  articles,  and  in 
the  face  of  violent  opposition,  the  adoption  of  an  inheritance  tax, 
and  this  feature  was  finally  incorporated  into  the  law. 

Because  of  Mr.  Willard's  knowledge  of  the  insurance  business 
he  was  made  chairman  of  the  Insurance  Committee  of  the  House 
of  Representatives,  and  to  him  was  assigned  the  task  of  preparing 
an  insurance  law  for  the  State.  Under  the  measure  which  he  pre- 
pared and  introduced  the  Department  of  Insurance  was  instituted. 
It  provided  for  a  full  and  complete  management  of  all  kinds  of  in- 
surance companies,  and  the  public  advantage  of  the  Insurance 
Department  working  under  it  has  been  most  marked.  Statutes 
modeled  on  the  North  Carolina  insurance  law  have  since  been 
enacted  in  a  number  of  Southern  States  and  are  working  equally 
as  well  as  in  this  State.  A  few  newspaper  comments  will  show  the 
popular  appreciation  of  this  act  and  also  of  the  law  providing  for 
the  investigation  of  fires,  which  was  drawn  and  advocated  by  Mr. 
Willard.  The  following  are  from  several  of  the  leading  State 
papers : 

"The  insurance  men  North  and  South  are  much  pleased  with  the  act 
of  the  North  Carolina  General  Assembly  concerning  insurance  matters. 
Our  townsman,  Representative  M.  S.  Willard,  is  to  be  congratulated  upon 
being  the  author  of  a  measure  the  provisions  of  which  so  clearly  and 
thoroughly  comprehend  the  needs  in  this  connection,  and  which  gives  such 
universal  satisfaction.  The  secretary  of  one  of  the  largest  insurance 
companies  in  the  North  writes  to  a  gentleman  here  requesting  that  copies 


478  NORTH  CAROLINA 

of  the  Willard  Bill  be  sent  to  some  Texas  parties.  He  says  he  has  pointed 
with  pride  to  the  legislation  of  North  Carolina,  and  especially  the  Willard 
Bill,  showing  the  good  results  to  both  the  public  and  insurance  interests" 
(Wilmington  Star). 

The  Insurance  Herald,  the  leading  insurance  journal  of  the 
South,  referring  to  the  reduction  in  rates  in  North  Carolina  by  the 
insurance  companies,  contained  the  following: 

"At  the  last  session  of  the  North  Carolina  Legislature  insurance  laws 
were  passed  which  met  with  general  commendation  from  citizens  and  fire 
insurance  companies.  Particularly  important  to  the  better  welfare  and 
improved  conditions  of  the  State  was  the  Fire  Marshal  Law,  charging  the 
insurance  commissioner  with  the  investigation  of  fires  and  the  prosecution 
of  charges  of  arson,  etc.  The  vigorous  manner  in  which  Commissioner 
Young  has  performed  his  duties  in  this  respect  has  had  a  favorable  effect. 
Inasmuch  as  the  increased  hazard  of  obnoxious  laws  must  be  met  by 
some  increase  of  rate,  many  fire  underwriters  believe  that  meritorious 
laws  should  also  be  encouraged  by  some  decrease  in  rate.  It  is  evident 
that  this  liberal  spirit  actuated  the  Executive  Committee  of  the  South- 
eastern Tariff  Association  in  its  adoption  of  the  following  resolution  at  a 
meeting  November  8th." 

( Here  followed  a  copy  of  the  resolution  reducing  rates  in  North 
Carolina  from  25%  to  33  1-3%.) 

The  Raleigh  Neivs  and  Observer  in  a  long  article  on  the  subject 
contained  the  following : 

"All  the  insurance  papers  are  commending  North  Carolina's  fire  in- 
surance law  and  congratulating  the  State  on  the  recent  reduction  in  rates." 

The  following  is  from  the  Wilmington  Despatch: 

"Direct  and  indirect  compliments  are  being  paid  North  Carolina's  new 
and  most  admirable  fire  insurance  laws  as  set  forth  in  the  now  famous 
'Willard  Bill,'  drafted  and  engineered  through  the  last  legislature  by 
Mr.  M.  S.  Willard  of  this  city,  by  the  press  throughout  the  South  and  in 
many  parts  of  the  North  and  West." 

The  Despatch  then  quotes  a  long  article  from  the  Richmond 


MARTIN    STEVENSON   WILLARD  479 

Times  which  tells  of  the  effort  to  have  the  North  Carolina  Law 
passed  in  Mississippi,  closing  by  urging  the  Virginia  Legislature 
to  enact  a  law  similar  to  the  North  Carolina  Law. 
The  Wilmington  Messenger  contained  the  following : 

"The  act  of  the  General  Assembly  of  North  Carolina  to  regulate  in- 
surance companies,  and  known  as  the  'Willard  Law,'  will  probably  be 
adopted  in  Virginia,  Georgia,  Mississippi  and  Texas.  It  is  regarded  as 
the  best  solution  of  the  insurance  problem  that  has  been  enacted  into  law 
in  the  South,  and  it  is  not  only  fair  to  the  insurance  companies,  but  makes 
a  great  saving  for  insurers.  Representative  Willard,  the  author  of  the 
act,  is  a  practical,  experienced  and  successful  insurance  man  himself,  and 
his  bill  is  making  him  considerable  reputation." 

Mr.  Willard  also  introduced  and  caused  to  be  passed  the  Act 
giving  New  Hanover  County  a  stock  law.  This  measure  was  vio- 
lently opposed  by  a  large  number  of  farmers  in  the  county.  Mr. 
Willard  was  convinced  that  such  a  law  would  soon  be  recognized 
as  of  great  benefit  to  the  county  at  large  and  felt  compelled  to  urge 
its  passage  in  spite  of  the  strong  opposition  of  so  many  of  his  own 
people.  The  wonderful  development  of  the  trucking  interests  in 
New  Hanover,  due  almost  entirely  to  this  law,  has  demonstrated 
the  wisdom  of  Mr.  Willard's  action. 

Mr.  Josephus  Daniels  in  the  Raleigh  News  and  Observer  has 
this  to  say  of  Mr.  Willard's  work  as  a  legislator : 

"The  need  of  the  hour  is  more  legislators  like  Mr.  Willard.  Independent, 
studious,  wise  and  progressive,  the  State  and  New  Hanover  County  have 
reason  to  be  proud  of  the  constructive  legislation  Mr.  Willard  has  had  a 
large  part  in  shaping." 

Mr.  Willard  has  since  early  manhood  been  a  prominent  Mason, 
having  held  the  highest  position  in  all  the  local  Masonic  organiza- 
tions. In  1898  he  was  elected  Grand  High  Priest  of  the  Grand 
Chapter  of  the  Royal  Arch  Masons  in  North  Carolina  and  served 
the  usual  term.  He  has  held  minor  offices  in  the  Grand  Lodge  of 
Masons  and  is  now  one  of  the  principal  officers  of  the  Grand  Com- 
mandery  of  Knights  Templar  in  North  Carolina.  Under  his  direc- 


48o  NORTH  CAROLINA 

tion  the  magnificent  Masonic  Temple  in  Wilmington  was  erected, 
this  being  at  the  time  the  most  conspicuous  building  in  Wilming- 
ton and  the  first  temple  erected  in  the  State.  Mr.  Willard  has 
also  been  actively  connected  with  a  number  of  other  prominent 
buildings  in  Wilmington,  among  which  may  be  mentioned  the 
large  three-story  factory  of  the  Willard  Bag  and  Manufacturing 
Company,  of  which  he  is  president,  and  the  office  building  owned 
and  occupied  by  the  Carolina  Insurance  Company.  He  will  no 
doubt  serve  this  latter  company  in  the  erection  of  a  still  more  at- 
tractive and  expensive  building  on  a  site  recently  purchased  by 
them  on  the  most  prominent  business  block  in  the  city.  He  is  at 
present  chairman  of  the  building  committee  which  is  erecting  the 
William  H.  Sprunt  annex  to  the  James  Walker  Memorial  Hos- 
pital. In  the  Spring  of  1906,  the  bag  factory  was  destroyed  by  fire, 
entailing  a  heavy  loss  on  the  company,  but  Mr.  Willard  and  his 
associates  are  rebuilding  on  a  larger  scale  in  a  more  eligible 
location. 

While  not  taking  so  active  a  part  in  the  other  organizations,  Mr. 
Willard  has  also  held  the  office  of  Chancellor  Commander  of 
Stonewall  Lodge,  Knights  of  Pythias,  this  being  the  oldest 
Pythian  Lodge  in  the  State,  and  is  also  a  member  of  the  Indepen- 
dent Order  of  Red  Men.  In  his  religious  life  Mr.  Willard  has  al- 
ways been  surrounded  by  earnest  Christian  influences  and  has  for 
some  time  been  a  member  of  the  First  Presbyterian  Church  of 
Wilmington. 

P-  Willard. 


Z-r,^  hifS  &  W^/'a'ns  S-Bra./^r^ 


C3%^,7-^^<,  ..c^    ^^  ^  Caj  i 


:  t^«^  A'kpp^-l  -'^■^i^'shur 


THOMAS   BROWN  WOMACK 

MONG  the  active  men  at  the  State  capital 
whose  influence  is  a  strong  force  in  the  pro- 
gress of  the  community  is  Thomas  Brown  Wo- 
maclf,  who  moved  to  Raleigh  from  Chatham 
County  in  1894  and  made  his  home  there. 
Judge  Womack  is  descended  on  his  mother's 
side  from  General  Thomas  Brown,  one  of  the  leading  patriots  of 
Bladen  County  in  the  days  that  tried  men's  souls,  his  first  military 
service  being  with  Governor  Tryon  at  the  battle  of  Alamance  in 
1771.  General  Brown  ardently  espoused  the  cause  of  liberty  at 
the  beginning  of  the  troubles  with  the  Mother  Country,  was  made 
lieutenant-colonel  in  1775,  and  later  became  a  very  active  partisan 
officer  of  the  lower  Cape  Fear.  In  1781,  when  the  British  domi- 
nated the  Cape  Fear  region  and  drove  the  Whigs  from  their  homes, 
some  sixty  of  General  Brown's  neighbors  found  refuge  in  Duplin 
County  aryi  were  organized  by  him  and  made  an  attack  on  the 
Tory  post  at  Elizabethtown,  held  by  three  hundred  Tories.  That 
was  one  of  the  most  brilliant  and  bloody  affairs  in  our  partisan 
warfare.  The  attack  was  at  midnight  and  entirely  successful,  the 
Tory  leaders  and  many  others  being  killed  and  those  who  sur- 
vived being  dispersed,  and  as  a  consequence,  the  Whigs  repos- 
sessed themselves  of  that  territory.  Colonel  Brown  afterwards 
was  appointed  brigadier-general.  He  served  in  the  State  Senate 
in  1786,  and  also  in  1788,  exerting  a  strong  influence  in  the  de- 


482  NORTH  CAROLINA 

liberations  of  that  body;  and  during  the  whole  course  of  his  life 
was  greatly  esteemed  throughout  the  Cape  Fear  region.  Through 
his  mother  also  Judge  Womack  is  one  of  the  numerous  descend- 
ants of  John  Sharpley,  and  has  the  same  descent  as  Bishop  W.  M. 
Green  of  the  Protestant  Episcopal  Church,  whose  saintly  character 
caused  him  to  be  so  widely  admired. 

On  his  father's  side  Judge  Womack's  ancestry  is  equally  dis- 
tinguished in  social  and  civil  life.  His  father,  John  Archibald 
^Vomack,  was  named  for  his  two  grandfathers,  John  Womack  and 
Archibald  McBryde.  John  Womack  was  a  grandson  of  Ashby 
Womack,  who  was  born  at  Suffolk,  England,  August  15,  1683, 
and  settled  in  Prince  Edward  County,  Virginia,  in  1716,  where  he 
died  February  4,  1756.  He  was  a  son  of  Edward  Womack,  who 
was  born  March  12,  1653,  and  died  at  Suffolk,  England,  Septem- 
ber 8,  1723,  being  himself  a  son  of  Laurence  Womack,  Bishop  of 
St.  David's,  who  was  born  at  Norfolk,  England,  May  23,  1612,  and 
died  in  1685. 

Bishop  Womack,  or  Womock  as  he  usually  spelled  the  name, 
■was  a  son  of  Laurence  Womack,  who  was  rector  of  Lopham,  as 
was  his  grandfather  Arthur  Womack.  The  Bishop  in  his  early 
ministry  had  a  benefice  in  the  West  of  England,  where  he  acquired 
fame  by  his  preaching.  In  1661  the  degree  of  Doctor  of  Divinity 
was  conferred  upon  him.  From  1660  to  1683  he  was  Archdeacon 
of  Suffolk,  and  on  November  11,  1683,  he  was  consecrated  Bishop 
of  St.  David's. 

Bishop  Womack  was  a  great  controversial  writer  at  the  restora- 
tion of  Charles  II,  proving  himself  an  able  Hterary  advocate  of 
the  old  liturgy.  He  published  twelve  theological  works,  the  last 
in  1683,  entitled  "Suffragium  Protestantium.  Wherein  our  gov- 
ernors are  justified  in  proceedings  against  Dissenters." 

He  was  twice  married,  having  children  by  each  marriage,  but 
left  a  will  devising  his  property  to  his  nephew  Laurence  Womack, 
rector  of  Castor  of  Yarmouth. 

John  Womack  came  to  North  Carolina  from  Virginia  in  the 
la-tter  part  of  the  eighteenth  century,  and  was  elected  to  the  Legis- 
lature from  Caswell  County  in  1787.     His  son  Green,  Judge  Wo- 


THOMAS    BROWN    WOMACK  483 

mack's  grandfather,  first  settled  at  Hillsboro,  engaging  in  the 
mercantile  business,  but  later  moved  to  Pittsboro,  where  he  mar- 
ried Ann  McBryde  in  1825. 

Archibald  McBryde,  John  Archibald  Womack's  maternal 
grandfather,  was  born  in  Wigtownshire,  in  northwest  of  Scotland, 
September  28,  1766,  and  came  to  America  shortly  after  the  cessa- 
tion of  hostilities,  penniless,  settling  in  Moore  County,  North 
Carolina.  In  1797  he  married  Lydia  Ramsey  of  Chatham  County, 
who  was  a  daughter  of  the  owner  of  the  celebrated  Ramsey's 
Mills  at  which  point  Lord  Cornwallis  encamped  and  crossed  Deep 
River  when  on  his  retreat  from  the  Battle  of  Guilford  Court 
House.  There  were  born  of  this  marriage  four  sons  and  seven 
daughters.  They  have  left  numerous  descendants  scattered 
through  several  of  the  Southern  States,  among  whom  is  Honor- 
able Hugh  M.  Street,  ex-Speaker  of  the  Mississippi  House  of  Rep- 
resentatives and  a  prominent  business  man  and  politician  of  Meri- 
dian, Mississippi. 

Archibald  McBryde  was  twice  elected  to  Congress,  serving 
from  May  22,  1809,  to  March  3,  1813,  was  several  times  State 
Senator,  and  was  Solicitor  of  the  Wilmington  district. 

Dr.  Caruthers  says  that  Mr.  McBryde  had  prepared  the  notes 
for  a  history  of  the  war  in  the  Scotch  region,  but  that  he  died  be- 
fore he  had  completed  his  manuscript.  A  number  of  his  notes 
were  turned  over  to  Dr.  Caruthers  by  Dr.  Charles  Chalmers,  his 
son-in-law,  and  were  freely  drawn  from  in  Dr.  Caruthers'  book  en- 
titled "Revolutionary  Incidents." 

Moore  says  Mr.  McBryde  was  an  avowed  Federalist,  and  the 
only  one  reelected  from  this  State  to  Congress  during  the  middle 
of  Mr.  Madison's  term.     He  declared  that : 

"Mr.  McBryde  was  a  lawyer  of  Moore  County  who  was  greatly  re- 
spected for  his  good  sense  and  many  virtues.  To  legal  and  political  pur- 
suits he  added  laborious  investigation  and  the  preservation  of  the  Revo- 
lutionary incidents  of  the  State.  To  General  Joseph  Graham  and  Mr. 
McBryde  are  the  people  of  this  age  largely  indebted  for  what  is  known 
of  that  momentous  epoch." 

Mr.  McBryde  died  February  15,  1836,    and   was    buried    at 


484  NORTH  CAROLINA 

Grange,  on  Deep  River  in  Chatham  County,  his  tombstone  bearing 
this  inscription : 

"By  perseverance,  industry  and  attention  he  arose  from  poverty 
and  obscurity  to  a  seat  in  Congress,  and  for  some  time  Solicitor  for 
the  State  for  the  Wilmington  Circuit." 

Judge  Womack's  father  was  John  Archibald  Womack,  a  mer- 
chant and  farmer  of  Chatham  County,  a  man  of  strong  intellec- 
tual power  and  of  business  capacity.  Among  his  notable  traits 
were  piety,  high  integrity,  industry  and  careful  attention  to  what- 
ever occupied  him.  He  was  forty-three  years  a  Ruling  Elder  in 
the  Presbyterian  church  at  Pittsboro,  and  was  a  frequent  attend- 
ant on  his  Church  Courts,  being  three  times  a  Commissioner  to 
the  General  Assembly  of  the  Southern  Presbyterian  Church.  No 
man  exerted  a  greater  influence  for  good  in  his  section  of  the 
State.  For  twenty-five  years  he  was  public  Administrator  of 
Chatham  County,  and  during  those  many  years  he  settled  more 
than  two  hundred  estates  without  having  one  account  impeached 
or  excepted  to  for  any  improper  expenditure  or  failure  to  per- 
form his  duty.  For  twenty-seven  years  he  was  a  justice  of  the 
peace,  trying  and  determining  more  than  a  thousand  cases,  and 
only  one  case  was  reversed  on  appeal  to  the  higher  courts.  He  rep- 
resented his  county  in  the  important  Legislature  of  1870-72  and 
so  impressed  himself  on  his  fellow-members  by  his  sterling  worth 
and  business  qualities  that  he  was  nominated  for  the  position  of 
Secretary  of  State  on  the  Democratic  Ticket  at  the  ensuing 
election. 

A  devout  man,  moderate  in  his  views,  temperate  in  all  things, 
careful  and  painstaking,  and  strict  in  the  performance  of  every 
duty  and  obligation,  his  example  exerted  a  great  influence  in 
forming  the  character  of  his  son,  who  also  received  from  him  his 
fine  intellectual  endowment,  while  to  his  mother  Judge  Womack 
is  largely  indebted  for  that  training  in  religious  and  spiritual  mat- 
ters which  has  been  the  basis  of  his  own  exact  walk  in  life. 

Born  on  the  12th  day  of  February,  1855,  his  father's  re- 
sources having  been  crippled  by  the  result  of  the  war  during  his 


THOMAS    BROWN    WOMACK.  485 

childhood,  Judge  Womack  did  not  receive  a  collegiate  education ; 
but  after  attending  a  few  years  at  the  Pittsboro  Academy,,  when 
only  fifteen  years  of  age,  he  entered  a  store  as  clerk  and  sold  goods 
and  kept  the  books  of  the  concern. 

The  training  then  received  has  been  of  great  service  in  famil- 
iarizing him  with  accounts  and  developing  clerkly  habits  and  or- 
der and  system  in  his  methods,  business  qualities  that  are  not 
generally  acquired  by  members  of  the  bar.  When  he  had  reached 
the  age  of  nineteen  years  he  found  himself  the  possessor  of  $250 
which  he  had  saved,  and  having  an  inclination  for  the  law,  this 
enabled  him  to  begin  the  study  for  that  profession  under  the  direc- 
tion of  his  neighbor,  Honorable  John  Manning,  afterwards  Pro- 
fessor of  Law  at  the  State  University.  In  June,  1876,  he  ob- 
tained his  license  and  opened  an  office  at  Pittsboro,  and  two  years 
later  was  chosen  Solicitor  of  the  Criminal  Court  of  Chatham 
County  and  discharged  his  duties  very  acceptably. 

In  1883  he  represented  Chatham  and  Alamance  Counties  in  the 
State  Senate,  and  at  the  next  election  was  chosen  a  Member  of  the 
House  of  Representatives.  His  legislative  career  won  for  him 
many  friends,  and  as  his  acquaintance  widened  his  popularity  and 
influence  became  more  extended. 

The  following  year  Governor  Scales  conferred  on  him  the  ap- 
pointment of  proxy  to  represent  the  State  in  the  A.  &  N.  C.  R.  R. 
Co.,  that  position  making  him  the  personal  representative  of  the 
Governor  of  the  State  in  all  matters  connected  with  the  manage- 
ment of  that  road,  of  which  the  State  owned  about  two-thirds  of 
the  stock.  In  1889  he  became  principal  clerk  of  the  House  of 
Representatives ;  and  the  next  year  was  appointed  by  Governor 
Fowle,  Judge  of  the  Superior  Court,  to  fill  the  unexpired  term 
caused  by  the  resignation  of  Judge  John  A.  Gilmer,  an  office  he 
was  admirably  qualified  to  fill. 

In  1894  he  was  persuaded  to  accept  the  chief  clerkship  in  the 
office  of  United  States  Collector  of  Internal  Revenue  Simmons, 
and  he  displayed  a  mastery  of  the  details  of  that  business  that  ex- 
cited the  admiration  of  his  friends.  In  1899  he  was  appointed 
Chairman  of  the  Board  of  Directors  of  the  Institution  for  the 


486  NORTH  CAROLINA 

Deaf  and  Dumb  and  the  Blind  at  Raleigh,  and  four  years  later  he 
was  elected  by  the  Legislature  chairman  of  the  commission  to 
codify  the  public  laws  of  the  State,  a  work  for  which  he  was  emi- 
nently qualified. 

Industrious  and  painstaking,  his  methodical  habits  led  him  to 
prepare  a  Digest  of  the  Supreme  Court  decisions  which  he  pub- 
lished in  two  volumes  in  1891,  and  the  third  volume  in  1898,  and 
an  Index  in  1902;  and  in  1904  he  published  the  "Laws  of  Pri- 
vate Corporations  of  the  State  of  North  Carolina,"  while  at  the 
same  time  he  was  much  engrossed  in  preparing  for  publication  the 
Revisal  which  was  adopted  by  the  General  Assembly  of  1905. 

He  originally  began  the  practice  of  the  law  alone  at  Pittsboro, 
was  a  partner  of  Honorable  John  Manning  from  1881  to  1883,  and 
in  1894  he  moved  to  Raleigh,  forming  a  copartnership  with  Mr. 
R.  H.  Hayes,  who  resided  at  Pittsboro.  In  1898  he  moved  to 
New  York  city  as  special  counsel  for  a  large  corporation,  but  after 
a  year's  experience  in  the  metropolis  he  returned  to  Raleigh  and 
opened  a  law  office  there  on  March  i,  1899.  In  Raleigh  Judge 
Womack,  besides  doing  the  literary  work  that  has  in  some  meas- 
ure occupied  him,  has  built  up  a  substantial  practice  and  is  in  the 
enjoyment  of  a  handsome  business.  He  served  for  two  years  as 
president  of  the  Chamber  of  Commerce,  and  is  actively  interested 
in  the  uplift  of  the  capital  city. 

He  is  a  man  of  very  acute  mental  power  and  endowed  with  a 
remarkable  quickness  of  apprehension,  a  strong  speaker,  present- 
ing his  views  with  a  clearness  not  often  excelled;  and  no  one  is 
better  grounded  in  the  principles  of  the  law  or  has  a  more  ac- 
curate acquaintance  with  the  decisions  of  the  Supreme  Court, 
while  he  is  particularly  distinguished  for  the  systematic  methods 
he  adopts  in  his  practice. 

During  his  youth  Judge  Womack,  while  studious  and  inclined  to 
his  books,  was  fond  of  out-of-door  sports,  and  until  recently  he 
practised  wheeling  as  an  amusement  and  for  exercise,  and  is  now 
frequently  found  among  the  spectators  at  the  baseball  and  football 
contests. 

On  the  30th  of  November,  1 881,  he  married  Miss  Susie  Taylor 


THOMAS    BROWN    WOMACK  487 

of  Pittsboro,  and  their  union  has  been  a  most  happy  and  con- 
genial one. 

He  feels  that  the  influences  that  have  chiefly  directed  his 
course  in  life  originated  at  the  fireside  of  his  father's  home — the 
example  of  his  estimable  father  and  the  religious  training  of  his 
admirable  and  devoted  parents.  But  his  own  personal  worth,  his 
ability,  industry,  and  his  purpose  to  attain  the  highest  excellence 
in  whatever  he  undertakes,  have  in  the  estimation  of  his  friends 
been  the  prime  factors  in  his  achieving  the  gratifying  success  that 
has  attended  his  professional  career. 

In  political  matters  Judge  Womack  has  ever  been  an  active 
and  zealous  Democrat,  and  he  has  warmly  cooperated  in  the  ef- 
forts of  Senator  Simmons,  who  as  chairman  of  the  State  Com- 
mittee has  managed  several  campaigns  in  the  State  with  great  suc- 
cess, while  in  religion  he  is  a  staunch  Presbyterian,  an  officer  in 
the  First  Presbyterian  Church  at  Raleigh,  and  enjoys  the  high 
esteem  of  his  associates  in  that  church. 

In  June,  1905,  Wake  Forest  College  conferred  upon  Judge  Wo- 
mack the  honorary  degree  of  Doctor  of  Laws. 

5.  A.  Ashe. 


ROBERT    SIMONTON    YOUNG 


fOBERT  SIMONTON  YOUNG  was  born  in 
Cabarrus  County,  near  Concord,  at  the  beauti- 
ful country  home  of  his  father,  Major  Robert 
Simonton  Young,  on  the  28th  of  September, 
1861.  His  father  was  of  Scotch-Irish  descent 
and  came  of  one  of  the  best  and  most  prominent 
famihes  of  Cabarrus  County,  and  not  one  of  them  had  borne  the 
old  name  more  worthily  than  he,  who,  when  he  fell  in  defence  of 
home  and  country,  left  a  spotless  record  as  husband,  father,  citizen, 
and  soldier.  His  memory  as  a  soldier  Doctor  Young  perpetuates 
as  a  worthy  and  active  member  of  the  United  Sons  of  Confederate 
Veterans. 

Major  Young  was  one  of  the  most  prosperous  and  progress- 
ive farmers  in  the  Piedmont  section  of  North  Carolina.  He  was 
a  Democrat  and  a  Secessionist.  And  when  the  war  came  he  kept 
his  political  faith  and  honor  sacred  and  high  by  early  entering 
the  Confederate  Army  as  Captain  of  Company  B,  Seventh  North 
Carolina  Regiment  of  Infantry,  which  splendid  company  he  him- 
self enlisted  in  Cabarrus  County. 

He  was  for  many  years  Ruling  Elder  in  the  congregation  of 
Poplar  Tent  Presbyterian  Church,  of  which  his  family  were  mem- 
bers.    As  a  boy  the  writer  knew  his  beautiful  and  hospitable  home 
to  be  a  pious  and  godly  one  and  a  happy  resort  for  children. 
The  mother  of  Doctor  Young  was  Miss  Sarah  Virginia  Bur- 


Po-lr^  .    S  ^     3^0 


ROBERT    S.   YOUNG  489 

ton,  daughter  of  Alfred  M.  Burton  of  Lincoln  County.  Her  ear- 
liest known  ancestor  was  Noel  Hunt  Burton,  who  was  the  father 
of  Hutchins  Burton,  the  father  of  Robert  Burton,  a  colonel  in  the 
Revolutionary  Army  and  a  member  of  the  Colonial  Congress. 
Robert  Burton's  wife  was  a  daughter  of  John  Williams,  one  of  the 
first  judges  under  the  State  Constitution.  Their  son  Alfred  was 
the  father  of  Doctor  Young's  mother. 

Doctor  Young  thus  came  of  true  old  Southern  blood  on  both 
sides,  and  when  his  gallant  father,  then  Major  of  the  Seventh 
North  Carolina  Regiment,  laid  down  his  life  on -the  battlefield  at 
the  siege  of  Petersburg  in  1864,  his  youngest  child  and  namesake, 
the  subject  of  this  sketch,  was  left  to  the  sole  care  of  his  mother. 
That  she  was  both  faithful  and  competent  was  proven  in  many 
ways,  but  in  none  more  than  in  the  character  and  success  of  her 
youngest  son.  It  is  a  cause  for  thankfulness  to  her  and  to  her 
innumerable  friends  that  she  still  lives,  at  the  good  age  of  seventy- 
eight  years,  to  rejoice  in  the  results  of  her  loving  care  and  wise 
training. 

In  Doctor  Young's  ancestry  there  was  nothing  of  the  very  best 
wanting ;  and  the  surroundings  and  influence  of  his  home  in  child- 
hood and  youth  were  splendidly  adapted  to  the  development  of  the 
heritage  bequeathed  him  by  those  of  his  blood  who  had  gone 
before.  A  priceless  heritage  it  is,  and  of  great  value  in  a  man's 
life,  but  it  will  not  make  a  man  unless  he  be  faithful  and  diligent  in 
the  use  of  his  natural  advantages.  That  Doctor  Young  has  dis- 
played these  two  most  estimable  qualities  in  a  marked  degree  is 
well  attested  by  the  position  he  holds  in  his  own  community  and  in 
the  ranks  of  his  profession. 

While  he  was  still  a  boy  his  mother  moved  to  Charlotte,  and 
in  the  High  School  and  Carolina  Military  Institute  of  that  city 
Doctor  Young  was  prepared  to  enter  on  his  course  as  a  medical 
student  of  the  University  of  Virginia  and  the  University  of  New 
York,  from  the  latter  of  which  he  was  graduated  as  a  Doctor  of 
Medicine  in  1881. 

He  began  the  practice  of  his  profession  that  same  year  at 
Matthews,   in   Mecklenburg   County,    North    Carolina.     He    re- 


490  NORTH  CAROLINA 

mained  there  less  than  two  years,  locating  in  1883  in  Concord, 
where  his  life  since  then  has  been  spent  in  the  arduous  labors  of 
his  profession,  in  which  he  has  spared  neither  time  nor  strength 
in  the  conscientious  discharge  of  his  duties. 

He  has  not  failed  of  his  reward;  for  not  only  is  he  firmly 
established  in  the  confidence  and  affections  of  hundreds  of  those 
to  whom  he  has  ministered  in  his  own  town  and  county,  but  it  is 
also  a  matter  of  pride  with  them  that  his  reputation  is  not  confined 
even  to  his  State,  but  is  well  known  far  beyond  its  borders  among 
the  most  prominent  members  of  the  profession.  At  different 
times  he  has  taken  a  course  at  the  Post-Graduate  Medical  Schools 
of  New  York,  thus  keeping  abreast  with  the  progress  of  the  day 
in  his  profession. 

As  some  high  evidences  of  his  professional  position  among 
the  great  doctors  of  North  Carolina  and  elsewhere,  Doctor  Young 
early  in  his  professional  life  was  winner  of  the  Essayist  Prize  of 
the  North  Carolina  Medical  Society  in  May,  1885.  He  has  been 
President  of  the  North  Carolina  Medical  Society,  and  a  member 
of  the  State  Board  of  Medical  Examiners,  the  two  highest  posi- 
tions within  the  gift  of  his  profession  in  North  Carolina,  and  is 
now,  and  has  been  by  appointment  of  two  successive  Democratic 
governors,  Surgeon-General  of  North  Carolina.  He  is  now  sur- 
geon for  the  Southern  Railway,  Superintendent  of  Health  for 
Cabarrus  County,  a  member  of  the  North  Carolina  Medical 
Society,  the  American  Medical  Association,  the  Association  of 
Military  Surgeons  of  the  United  States,  the  Association  of  Sur- 
geons of  the  Southern  Railway  and  of  the  American  Association 
of  Railway  Surgeons. 

His  principal  public  service  has  been  rendered  in  organizing 
the  medical  department  of  the  National  Guard  of  North  Carolina 
into  its  present  effective  form,  which  he  has  modeled  after  that 
of  tile  United  States  Army,  and  in  efficiency  and  equipment  it  is 
second  to  that  of  no  State  in  the  Union. 

By  honorable  practice  of  his  profession  and  rigid  regard  for 
the  great  principles  and  rules  of  business  life.  Doctor  Young 
has  succeeded  well  financially,  and  to-day,  in  the  very  prime  of 


ROBERT    S.   YOUNG  491 

life,  is  a  man  of  wealth  and  takes  an  active  interest  in  the  manage- 
ment of  many  enterprises  in  and  around  Concord.  He  is  presi- 
dent of  the  Young-Hartsell  Mills  Company  and  of  the  Concord 
Perpetual  Building  and  Loan  Association,  and  is  a  director  in  the 
Cabarrus  Savings  Bank,  the  Cabarrus  Cotton  Mill,  the  Gibson 
Manufacturing  Company,  the  Wiscassett  Mill  Company  and  the 
Brown  Manufacturing  Company,  all  being  among  the  most  promi- 
nent and  successful  financial  and  cotton  manufacturing  industries 
of  Western  North  Carolina. 

Aside  from  his  professional  and  business  quahties.  Doctor 
Young  is  prominent  socially,  and  his  home  is  one  of  the  most  at- 
tractive in  Concord,  intellectually  and  otherwise.  He  is  a  man 
of  first-class  general  intellectual  attainments,  is  a  great  history 
reader,  and  feels  that  history  study  next  to  his  professional  books 
has  contributed  most  to  help  and  fit  him  for  his  work  in  life. 
With  Lord  Bolingbroke,  he  considers  that  "history  is  philosophy 
teaching  by  example,"  and  he  studies  it  as  such.  And  with  it  all 
he  is  a  great  believer  in  and  promoter  of  the  cause  of  general 
education. 

On  the  19th  day  of  February,  1885,  he  married  Miss  Nannie 
Moss  Ervin,  who  is  to-day  a  beautiful  and  intellectual  woman  of 
Concord's  best  society.  Her  father,  Mr.  Jas.  R.  Ervin,  is  of  a  prom- 
inent old  family  of  South  Carolina;  and  her  mother,  formerly 
Miss  Margaret  Moss,  was  the  youngest  daughter  of  Mr.  John  B. 
and  Mrs.  Nancy  Moss,  of  Cabarrus  County,  a  father  and  mother 
representative  of  the  best  type  of  old  ante-bellum  Southern  society. 
She  is  a  member  of  the  United  Daughters  of  the  Confederacy,  the 
National  Society  of  the  Daughters  of  the  American  Revolution, 
and  the  North  Carolina  Society  of  the  Colonial  Dames  of 
America.  Doctor  and  Mrs.  Young  have  only  one  child,  a  son, 
now  a  midshipman  in  the  United  States  Navy  at  the  Naval 
Academy.  Although  his  father  fell  fighting  for  the  Confederacy, 
Doctor  Young  devoted  his  son  to  the  service  of  his  country. 

Doctor  Young's  biography  has  heretofore  been  published  in 
the  work  entitled  "Western  North  Carolina,"  in  which  it  was 
said  of  him : 


492 


NORTH  CAROLINA 


"He  was  appointed  a.  delegate  from  North  Carolina  to  the  International 
Medical  Congress  of  1890,  held  at  Berlin,  and  represented  his  State  with 
great  credit  to  himself  and  those  who  sent  him.  He  improved  his  oppor- 
tunities while  abroad,  and  devoted  much  time  to  the  study  of  medicine 
and  surgery  in  the  principal  schools  and  hospitals  of  Europe." 

Doctor  Young  has  never  devoted  much  time  to  sports,  like 
hunting,  etc.,  and  has  little  faith  in  artificial  forms  of  exercise, 
athletics  and  modern  systems  of  physical  culture,  and  finds  that 
his  professional  daily  life-work  gives  him  all  the  exercise  he 
needs  for  health  and  strength.  In  exact  accord  with  his  love  of 
the  study  of  history  as  an  intellectual  improvement  and  benefit,  he 
feels  that  contact  with  men  in  active  life  has  done  more  than  all 
other  causes  combined  in  promoting  his  success. 

Like  all  good  men  who  have  won  large  success,  he  says  that 
he  has  met  with  many  failures  in  what  he  hoped  to  do ;  and,  with 
such  men's  usual  wish  for  the  success  of  young  people,  he  suggests 
to  all  who  desire  to  attain  success  in  life  the  following :  "Be  ambi- 
tious. Aim  high.  You  will  never  shoot  higher  than  you  aim. 
Back  this  up  with  politeness,  affability  and  incessant  work,  and 
success  is  assured." 

Paul  B.  Means.